


The Missing Years

by RebelWolf



Category: The Outpost (TV 2018)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 10:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20758649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelWolf/pseuds/RebelWolf
Summary: Time Period: late 1400 - The story centers on Talon; the lone survivor of a race called the 'Blackbloods'. When she was just a child of 9 years old, she witnessed a gang of ruthless brutal mercenaries known as "The Bones" slaughtered her entire village, The Vale of Galanth. They were hired by Ambassador Everit Dred.





	1. Chapter 1

She managed to escape and stay hidden in caves throughout the forest. She would steal vegetables from some of the local farms or directly from the fields. She had been caught trying to steal a couple rutabagas by a local millwrights wife who took her in to feed and help. While living with this family, she decided to cut the tips of her ears off so she would look more like the rest of the humans. The millwright was named Myron and he had a wife, son and young daughter. She was feeling safe again and even began to joke a little with the wife about the cutting of her ears. The wife would scold her every time she washed or combed her hair but she wasn’t being mean, she was being more like a mom.

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Everit Dred was the newly appointed Ambassador of the Prime Order. He worked for and answered directly to “The Three”. His first assignment upon being appointed Ambassador was to  
Look into and stop the prophecy of a Blackblood bringing forth a waring force that would defeat and destroy the Prime Order and Rein of The Three. He decided that the best way to put an end to the prophecy was to hunt down and kill every Blackblood in the entire realm. He had no problem with finding and killing the Blackbloods because they were nothing but a bunch of animals that practiced a form of black magic and could summon demons into this world. That was pure heresy and an abomination before “The Three”.

He was a bit obsessed when it came to hunting down and exterminating witches, demons, these Blackblood and any other beings that used black magic and threatened his way of believing or living. He had his own saying, “What is Right is Right but what is not needs to be exterminated”.

He sat upon his horse at the edge of the burnt village and watched as his men searched through every house, barn, building, shed or hovel. They checked under tarps, piles of wood, branches or anything that might hide or cover someone that might still be alive. He had wanted to make sure that not one single living thing was left of the Blackbloods.

Dred shouted, “Captain, do you have a count yet? How long does it take to count dead bodies?”

Aman comes running up to Dred’s horse and stops and comes to a salute, “Sir, I have just now received all of the count logs and am just finishing up their tally.”

“Well, be quick about it then,” snapped Dred.

After a few minutes, the Captain came to attention again and said, “Sir, we have a total of 173 dead, 67 men, 74 and 32 children. That is everyone that was killed within this village.”

Dred smiled, “Thank you Captain, you and your men have done a fine job. How long before they have finished?

The Captain replied, “It should take about 2 hours, sir. We will make sure that every single body is burned along with all of the livestock and buildings. There will be nothing left but soot, ash and some bones, sir.”

Dred smiled again and said, “Good Captain, very good. I readily await your finished report on the unfortunate village. We must look into the wandering gangs of cutthroats and highwaymen soon. At least before something like this happens again. Gooday Captain, I am heading back to the Capitol now. I will see you sometime tomorrow.” And with that said, he turned his horse around and quickly rode away from the devastated village.


	2. Chapter 2

One day hunting, she had to kill a “Remmick” (deer-like creature) for food for the family that had taken her in and was found out by another Blackblood that had come for her and her gift. Talon is hunting with a man, Myron and a young girl in a snowy forest. She hesitates to take down the deer-like creature, saying her people have taught her not to take what isn’t given. The man told her that you don’t have to enjoy the hunt but you know, food and all. “We only kill to survive.” The man and the other young girl miss their mark driving the deer-creature into the forest. Talon sucks it up and lands a 1 in a million shot, bringing down the beast. The man tries to comfort Talon that “Remmick” will feed them for a whole winter and they’ll be thankful to it every time they eat.

Back in the camp, Myron’s wife chastises Talon, semi-playfully, about cutting off the tips of her ears. This is not the first time they’ve had this conversation. The woman sends Talon to fetch water so they can get down to the cooking of Remmick. There is a man, dressed in black leather with a strange symbol tattooed on his right temple (sign of the Black Fist Tribe). He followed and watched Talon at the nearby frozen stream.

By the time Talon returned to the camp, she found Myron and family were all dead. The man in black emerges from behind the tent and begins talking to Talon as if they are acquainted. He introduces himself as Varlek, a Blackblood, and said that he knew Talon’s mother and Talon herself, though, he admitted that it’s been awhile since they’ve seen each other. Varlek said that he and her mother had an agreement that if anything happened that could endanger her life and he was not around; Talon’s mother was to pass the Asterkinj to her so that Talon could pass it on to him at a later time. 

She was feeling a strong predator sensation coming from Varlek and when Talon shows no interest in going with him willingly, he grabs her. He stood still, concentrated on her, breathed deeply and activated the Asterkinj. She struggles and kicks him in the shin and he drops her to the ground. Once she was on her feet, she kicked him as hard as she could right in the crotch and turned to run before anything more could happen but as she turned she tripped and fell over a fallen tree limb.

Varlek recovered and came after her. As he bore down on her, she pulled out her mother’s dagger and flipped it through the air, burying it hilt deep into his chest. Varlek was caught by surprise, and only stared at the dagger as he dropped to his knees. He looked at Talon and tried to say something but collapsed to the ground dead. Talon retrieved her mother’s dagger from Varlek’s corpse and repeated Myron’s words, “we only kill to survive.”

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She sat and cried for the family that had been good to her, they had treated her just like one of their children. She was scared of what could happen to her, so after the short mourning period, she finally got something to eat and then crawls into the tent for warmth and sleep. In the morning, she set out to find a good place to bury Myron and his family. She picks a spot across the small field near the edge of the trees and digs 4 shallow graves. She then uses the small cart the family used to haul their supplies and moves each body to a grave. She then gathers up stones from along the field and stream. 

After she had enough, she covers each of the bodies and then uses the dirt to cover the rock. She hopes that this will keep the animals from digging up the bodies but she knows that a full grown wolf or even a small bear could get through the rocks with some effort. She then uses the cart to haul Varlek’s body into the woods and over to a cliff where she rolls him over the edge and down the side of the small cliff. She doesn’t feel the need to dig him a grave or even cover his body. The animals need to eat something, she thinks. 

It is late in the afternoon and she is dirty, tired and hungry. So she discards her dirty bloody clothes and burns them in the small cooking fire. She then washes and puts on clean dry clothes before finding something to eat. After she had eaten her fill she crawls back into the tent and falls to sleep dreaming about Varlek and wondering where he come from? She wondered if maybe there were others? She would have to think about what to do next.

After a week, she packed up all of the remaining food, some clothes and weapons loading them into the cart and headed away from the campsite. She had gathered everything that she could find and put it inside the tent and then she set the tent on fire. She didn’t want to leave any trace of who had been here. She figured that if anyone checked it out they would think bandits had killed the people and stole what they wanted before burning everything else. She really had no idea where to go but she knew she needed to get away from this campsite. She headed southwest to get farther away from her there.


	3. Chapter 3

She followed along on a heavily traveled route that followed along a fast moving river. She would hide off the road out of sight whenever she heard anyone headed her way. Sometimes she barely had time to hide because the people would be walking and staying quiet. A few times she was sure she had been spotted and had lost the cart with most of her provisions once when she had been walking along sleeping and hadn’t heard them until it was too late. She bolted into the trees leaving her cart. After they looked for her, they picked through her cart and then just took it along with them when they finally left.

She started traveling just off the road way off in the trees, it was a little slower going but she had less to worry about when people came along and besides she really didn’t have anywhere she needed to be. She would step off a little farther into the trees when it came night and she would not have a fire unless she could find a cave or a small ridge or hill to hide behind. She figured that the less anybody could see the better for her.

She was always looking over her shoulder for any of the mercenaries that had attacked her village. She could see them all in her dreams and the tattoo that each of them had was clear as a bell. Thinking about them would cause her to travel a little more at night and sleep during the day. It didn’t stop the nightmares but it seemed to lessen them somewhat. She found that she could see at night pretty good. She had always known that see could see better at night than any of the humans that she had been around. She also found that there were less people traveling the roads at night and she was able to travel a little faster and farther than during the daytime.

After a few weeks on the road, it started to get cold and it had dropped a little snow overnight. Winter was on its way and this meant that she needed to find some good shelter to hold up in for a while. Talon was asleep off the road in a small valley partially covered under the roots of a huge tree growing out of the side of the hill by someone hollering, “Over here, hurry. I think I found her. I think I found her, over here.” Before she could get up, grab her stuff and run away there were about 8 or 9 men and woman surrounding her.

One woman stepped up and asked, “What is your name child? Who are you?”

Talon was starting to panic and couldn’t think of anything to say. The people were slowly stepping closer saying things like, “It’s alright now” and “Stay calm” as they came closer with their arms all stretched out toward her.

The same woman that asked her name reached her first and gently took her in her arms and hugged her close to her body. She was a very large and round woman but she had a soft voice and a nice smile. She hugged Talon and slowly rubbed her head smoothing out her hair. She said, “You are safe now, don’t be scared. You look so thin and dirty. Are you ok little one?”

After a few minutes, a man dressed in a big furry coat came along and started looking at her face closely before saying, “No, this is not my Marta. My Marta had brown hair, not black and she was healthier looking, this poor thing looks like she hasn’t eaten and a few weeks.”

The woman holding her said, “Well, if she is not your missing child, she has to be someone’s missing child. Does anyone recognize her?”

Everyone in the group, which had grown to 30 men and woman, came close and looked at her, grabbed her face, moved her head back and forth until everyone had a good look. They all said that they had never seen her before. The woman the asked, “Well, if no one knows who she is then I am going to claim her until we can find her family. Anyone object?”

Everyone seemed happy with that and the woman thought it was wonderful and started laughing and hugging her like she was some store bought doll. Shortly after, everyone started packing up their stuff and walking down the road together. The woman said, “I hope you can walk cause we got about a mile or so to get home. Grab your stuff and let’s go.” She grabbed her bags and the woman grabbed her hand and started walking after the people.

The group had walked down out of the hills into the valley and around a big curve into a small village with a big church and a couple dozen houses. She could see white fluffy smoke rising from each of the building and could smell baking bread somewhere close. She was very hungry because she hadn’t eaten in a couple days and the sound coming from her stomach was loud enough that the woman said, “I hear someone’s hunger monster call for food. Well, when we get home you can eat all you can hold.”

True enough to her word, they came to a small cottage that had a bright light coming from inside and a lot of smoke rolling out of the chimney. Inside was very warm and Talon struggled to get her layers off before she became over heated and covered in sweat. She stood at the end of the table and the woman was busy moving things around the kitchen. She stopped and looked at Talon and said, “I will be glad to feed you all that you can eat but first you must clean yourself up before sitting at the table. There is water and soap just out that door. Make sure you use the soap, now go, hurry along.”

She went out the door and found a large rain barrel next to a small table that had a face bowl, soap, combs and a brush. There were 2 towels hanging on pegs next to the table. She quickly used the water and soap to clean herself and then dried her face and hands. She picked up the brush which looked like a small horse brush. She ran it through her hair a couple times to get the snags and snarls out before returning to the kitchen table.

She found a large bowl of what looked like soup with vegetables and some kind of meat. There was several slices of bread and fresh-made spread and a bowl of apples. It was almost too much for her to look at when the woman said, “You do clean up nice, little one. Don’t just stand there, sit down and eat.” Talon calmly sat down and took a spoon of soup and sipped it slowly before diving in like a crazy person. Her face was almost in the bowl as she ate.

The woman laughed and said, “Calm down, slow down or you will chock yourself. There is plenty of food and time to eat it so relax, slow down and enjoy the meal.” And with that said, she turned to her own bowl. 

Talon watched her for a second and then said, “It is so good, I could not help myself. I am sorry.” She then picked up a piece of bread and dipped it into her soup and slowly ate her meal. The woman smiled but continued eating.

After her second bowl of the soup, bread and 2 apples, Talon was full and ready to pop. She sat there rubbing her stomach and finishing the last of her apple when the woman stated, “Well, I hope you enjoyed the food but I am afraid that I can’t feed you anymore without knowing your name.”

Talon looked a little surprised but realized that she had not said anything to the woman for finding her and feeding her. She stood up next to the table and said, “I am sorry, I have bad manners. My name is Elise and my family is dead.”

The woman was a little surprised to hear that and asked, “Where are you from and what happened to your family?”

Sat back down in the chair and looked down at the floor saying, “It was about 10 days from here, I think. It was at night and I had snuck out to the tree house that some of the men had made for the children to play in. I liked to sleep in the tree house and listen to the breeze whisper through the trees. I was asleep and then I heard a lot of screaming.”

The woman gasp and put her hand on Talons knee as she spoke, “Oh my lord. What did you do?”

Talon said, “I looked between the boards of the tree house and could see the houses on fire and people running and screaming in every direction. They were being chased by men on horseback. They were dress in black with hooded cloaks covering them. They shot arrows from crossbows and used their swords to kill everyone..

The woman said, “Oh lord, that is terrible.”

Talon was fighting back tears but said, “I saw a man on horseback swing his sword and cut my mother’s head off. I was so scared that I crawled to the back of the tree house, covered up in my blankets and cried quietly for a long time.”

The woman grabbed Talon and hugged her to her tightly while smoothing her hair saying, “Oh my child, to be so young and to see such horror is wrong on so many different levels. What happened after that?”

Talon shook and wiped away the tears saying, “I stayed in the tree house until morning. I was too scared to make any noise. There was no one around and everyone from my village was dead. I found my mother and baby brother and I covered them with wood and some cloth. I wanted to cover everyone else but I heard the sound of horses near-by so I ran into the woods and didn’t stop until it was dark out. I was so scared and alone.”

The woman held her and slowly rocked back and forth with her for a while and she almost fell asleep in her lap. She slowly stood Talon up and said, “I am so sorry that happened to your family. I would like it very much if you would stay here with me. I am also alone and I think we would get on just fine. I am called Brenann but you can call me Anna, OK?”

Talon looked at her and then hugged her neck and said, “Thank you, Anna.”

Talon/Elise slept warm and comfortable that night and after a few days she met most all the villagers. She found out that the girl that they were looking for when they found her, was the daughter of the local preacher. Her body was found a week later. She had been out piking berries and had slipped on the new snow and fallen down a small cliff where she hit her head on some rocks. The whole village turned out for her funeral.

Everything seemed to be going good and Talon soon became very comfortable as Elise. She stayed in the little village with Anna and was very happy for just over 1 year until Anna’s younger sister arrived one day with 2 children saying her husband had been killed and now she was homeless and had nowhere to go. So they moved into Anna’s house and life changed quickly.

Anna’s sister was named Elenore and she had lived 2 villages over for several years but had never once come to visit her sister. Her children were not well mannered or behaved and they were constantly breaking things or taking things that didn’t belong to them. Talon/Elise had moved her bedroom down to the small dusty root cellar so that Elenore could have a room to herself. Her children were sleeping in the storage room next to hers unless they decided to sleep in their mother’s bed that night.

Elenore told Anna that her husband had been drinking with some of the other men in the village when a traveler came to town and mentioned that he had spotted a small group of Greyskins not far from the village and they had scared his wife something awful. They men gathered up a few more and their weapons and went out to hunt the Greyskins down and kill them to keep the village safe. Most of the men were pretty drunk and several fell out of the hunting party as they marched through the woods.

By the time the remaining group had found the Greyskins party, they were only 8 or 9 men and most of them were still drunk, barely able to stand. They attacked a small group of 4 or 5 Greyskins and were more than surprised when about a dozen more came to their aid. They attacked the villagers and killed all but one. He said he had fought them off and escaped but everyone pretty much figured the Greyskins let him go to warn others not to bother them.

Elenore’s husband had been killed along with 7 others by the Greyskins and 4 others had died of exposure when they passed out or fell asleep in the cold snowy woods over night because they were too drunk to stay awake and keep moving. She said that the entire idea had been her husbands and it was his fault that 11 men of the village were dead. The village elders decided that they would take her husband’s farm and everything on it. They told her that she would have to leave the village and to take her children with her.

They all lived in the small house and Talon/Elise really hated having to put up with them. She wished that they had somewhere else to go but Anna said that she was her only living family and family always took care of family, it was only right. So she kept her mouth shut and spent as much time alone with Anna as she could or out running around in the forest. She had spent the last couple years running, climbing, swinging and swimming in the forest and river. She was growing strong and starting to look very pretty, at least that was what Anna kept saying.

She was peeling potatoes for dinner one evening about a year and a half after Elenore had moved in and as she was finishing the last potato, Donita, Elenore’s daughter, grabbed the bowl and pulled it saying, “My momma says you take too long with these potatoes. She needs them now.” The edge of the bowl struck the knife Talon/Elise was using and it slipped and cut her hand deep enough that blood flowed freely. When Donita saw it she started screaming which brought her mother and aunt Brenann running. Elenore grabbed her daughter and started yelling at Talon/Elise about yelling her daughter.

When she saw the black blood she quickly took Donita into the front of the house and calmed her down. She made her go out to find her brother and tell him to come home for dinner. She goes back in and watches as her sister treats Elise’s hand and when they are done she watches her sister dump the bloody wraps in the trash. She waits and then grabs them out of the trash and carefully puts them into small pouch. She takes it to her room and hides it so no one should find it.

After a few weeks, everything seems back to normal except Elenore and her children seem to spend a lot more time together and even spend a good deal of time outside the house. One night just before sunset, Elenore announces that she is taking the children to visit their father’s mother and they will be gone for about a week. Both Anna and Elise were thrilled and even helped with the packing and loading of their baggage. They watched them leave the next morning and then they spent a relaxing quiet day at home. The next day they did some cleaning of all the rooms in the house and beatings of sleep mats and heavy quilts. They dusted everything, cleaned all the windows and mopped all the floors. The house was clean smelling again. They were both pretty tired so they had a small supper and both went to bed early.

Shortly after midnight, Talon woke up at hearing a noise outside the house. She got up and quietly moved about the house looking out windows to see if she could figure out what had made that noise. As she made her way around the house, she spotted a few large shadows that looked like men forming up near the back door. She quickly ran to her bed and dressed and stashed most of her stuff in her already packed bag. She knew someday she would have to run so she always kept her bags at the ready.

She grabbed her knife and a short sword that she had recently came to own. She eased to the cellar door and waited to see what they were going to do. She didn’t have to wait long because they kicked in the back door and ran into the house knocking tables, chairs and every other piece of furniture over as they went. They rushed to the bedrooms and into Anna’s room. They were screaming and grabbing at her while she was screaming and fighting them off.

While they were tearing the house apart, one man pulled open the cellar door and came down to check it out too. She was hidden in the shadows and he didn’t have a torch so she was able to slip right out the door as he slowly crossed the cellar to check the other side. She slammed the door shut and blocked it shut with a rake. She took her bags to the far side of the yard and put them under a large bush before heading back into the house.

She heard Anna screaming and men laughing and she knew just what they were doing to her. She quickly entered the house and stabbed 2 men as she made her way to Anna’s room. She peeked in the room to see a couple men holding her arms and legs as another was mounted on top of her. She was struggling and managed to push him down far enough that she could knee him in the balls, which she did right after getting her leg free.

The man fell to the floor but one of the other men back handed her across the face and then pulled his short sword and shoved it into her neck, cutting off her screams. They let go of her arms and legs and she lay the flopping around as the blood poured out of her neck covering her, the bed and the floor. After just a couple minutes, she stopped moving and the blood all but stopped. Talon knew she was dead.

Talon went into a rage. She kicked in the bedroom door and stomped down on the same guys balls and then with all her weigh on her one foot she twisted it around and back and forth. He started to scream but the pain was far too much and he passed out and died chocking on his own blood. She twisted her whole body around and sliced across the chest of the man that stabbed Anna. She then knocked him to the floor and planted her short sword in his neck and twisted it. He only gurgled and spit blood with almost no sound at all.

She turned just in time to catch the guy that was holding Anna’s leg across his mid-section with her sword. He was rather fat and his guts just rolled out onto the floor. As he dropped to the floor, 2 more men started down the hallway toward her. She ran as fast as she could and then dove at the floor right into their ankles hit the first guy and snapping one of his legs from the forces of her dive. He fell back onto the other guy and Talon shoved her sword into the base of his neck and twisted the blade opening his neck wide.

She headed for the back door just ahead of the guy from the cellar. He had escaped and was coming up the stairs as she was starting down. She jumped feet first into him and knocked him back onto the ground and she heard a snap/crack sound as her feet hit the ground with his abdomen under her feet. She quickly rolled away from him and made her way over to the large bush and grabbed her bags. She was in full running mode.

She managed to get out of town and into the woods without seeing anyone else. She ran until it was almost daylight and then she search for and found a small cave next the edge of the river to hide in. she stayed in the cave all day and waited until at least 2 hours after dark before leaving the cave and running west away from the village. She had been crying all day over the death of Anna. She thought all day about how they had found out about her after all this time and then she remembered the day she cut her hand and how Elenore had acted.

She was positive that Elenore had told someone about her black blood and they were trying to capture or kill her for the Prime Order. She grew madder than she had ever been and even turned around and headed back toward the town. She took 3 days to sneak back to town and when she did she found that Elenore had returned and cleaned out the house throwing everything that was Anna’s out in the yard and burning it. All of her clothes, bedding and chairs.

Talon watched her move in newer furniture and drapes and beds for her and her children. She watched her for 2 days before working her way up to and into the house well after midnight. She snuck down the hall and into Anna’s bedroom and then over to the side of the bed. She crouched down beside the bed and waited, listening to Elenore snore like an old drunk fat man. She eased up onto the bed sitting across her large chest and then pressing her knife against her throat. Elenore started coughing and then woke with a jerk that caused the knife to cut into her neck, allowing bleed to run down her throat.

Elenore’s eyes were huge in the moonlight and Talon eased her face close to Elenore’s and said, “You had your sister killed. What did you do? Who did you tell?”

Elenore just laid there in total shock, too scared to say anything. Talon slowly moved the knife across her skin and it cut a very fine line of red all the way across. Elenore started to scream but Talon shoved a wad of torn shirt into her mouth shutting off any scream or noise. She then replaced the knife on the left side of her neck just below the first cut and then looked into her eyes.

“You went and told some one about my blood, didn’t you” she asked. When Elenore didn’t answer right away, she started cutting her neck again. This got her to quickly nod her head and grunt a yes sound. Talon stopped moving the knife and put it back on her neck just below the second cut before asking, “They promised you money and this house for telling them everything about me, didn’t they?”

This time Elenore didn’t need the knife to move to make her answer. She nodded quickly and grunted yes several times. Talon the asked, “Did you tell them to kill Anna because she had been helping to hide me?” For a moment Talon thought she was going to have to cut her again but then she nodded her head and couple times and grunt yes only once.

Talon was beyond mad at this point but she had one more question before she was through. She asked, “Did you tell your children what you were doing and why you were doing it?” She watched her eyes as she looked flat with no real emotion as she nodded her head and couple times but gave no grunt sound. Talon was ready to scream but she waited and then said, “They knew the whole time that you were planning on having your sister killed and then moving in here as if it was your own home. They are just as bad as you are. No worries though, I will fix all of that.

With a smooth and very slow drag of the knife deep across her throat, Elenore could feel the meat tearing and the blood rushing out of her open throat. She could also feel the life ooze out of her as she slowly started to fall asleep. After a few minutes, Talon left Elenore’s chest and crept into the children’s rooms where she cut their throats while they slept. She didn’t know or care if they realized what had happened all she cared about was ending their wasteful useless lives.

She slowly and quietly moved through the house getting food and other supplied before dosing the beds and rooms with lamp oil. She then set Elenore’s the bed linen on fire and crept out of the house, back into the forest and away from the village, forever. She knew that there was a Military Outpost not far away and she didn’t want to get involved with any of that so she turned further south and headed out on her own, again.


	4. Chapter 4

She had traveled for a couple weeks, not really hurrying because she had no place to go so she would stop and spend a couple days in a small valley or heavily wooded area if she found a good source of food. When it got cold or rained, she would find a small cave or a large tree root that she could hide in out of the rain. Anna had showed her how to build a quick lean-to and sometimes she would stay there for several days, just resting and eating and enjoying not being bothered by anyone else.

Most of the time, she had no problem finding food because she would trap or kill a small animal, catch fish, pick berries and other fruits and nuts in the forest. When she traveled near a farm, she take a few vegetables or sneak into the barns to sleep and search until she found something to eat or something she could use for herself. She even would watch the people that lived on some of the farms and when they left the farm or went out into the fields, she would sneak into their houses and get food and supplies, as she needed them.

Shortly after she turned 13 years old, she was caught in one of the houses by the owner. She had found some dresses and had taken the time to try one on but the lady came home and she had to run off before getting caught. She had left her pack and coat in the house and it was getting cold again. She had watched the house for almost a week before she got another chance to go back in to get her stuff. When she found them, all of her clothes had been cleaned and folded carefully.

Everything had been cleaned and wiped down and she even found fresh fruits and vegetables packed in it. She had a few coins she had collected over time, so she left a couple coins on the table next to where her pack had been sitting along with the dress that she had been wearing when she ran away. She didn’t mind people thinking she was a thief but she didn’t want anyone’s pity so she paid the best she could.

After being on the road for over 2 years, she met another teenager who was basically doing the same as she was. They travelled a little together and sometime shared their food with each other and over time they became friends. His name was Aldur and he had run away from his uncles farm because he beat him all the time. His father had left before he was born and his mother never recovered her health after giving birth to him. She died just before he turned 1 year old. His uncle, his mothers older brother, didn’t like him and had said he was the reason that his mother had died.

Aldur was almost 14 years old, almost 2 years younger than she was and had been on his own for almost a year. He had some type of rash and an infection on his leg. Talon remembered some medicine that Anna had shown her from tree bark and s small yellow flower and a handful of wet moss. She boiled it up and made him drink the broth while she made a paste off the mess at the bottom of the pan. She rubbed in on the rash and into his leg wound and then wrapped it in a cloth. After a week the rash was gone and he was able to walk a little better.

After almost 3 weeks, his leg wound was healed and they started west and north. He had told her that there was a village of half-lings in the mountains past the northwest outpost. He said they could go there and live without having to worry about the Prime Order finding them or anyone bothering them because the half-lings would keep others away and they wouldn’t be bothering them if they didn’t bother the half-lings. She had asked him a lot of questions about this village and the mountains and the outpost but he only knew of the village because his father had a trader friend that went to the village to buy and trade for many of the things they sold.

He told her that the half-lings were not violent people and just wanted to make some money and live away from the rest of the people. He was sure that they wouldn’t care if two young humans lived near their town. Talon was a little nervous about this but didn’t say anything about her being a Blackblood. She figured that if everyone thought she was just another human they would leave her alone.

They traveled north until they found the Tyber River and then turned west and traveled along it for a while. They found a small boat that had broken its moorings and floated down stream. They were able to catch it and found they needed to fix a small hole in the bottom of the boat and Aldur turned out to be a pretty good repairman for the boat because his uncle had shown him how to care for a boat. They floated along the river during he day and stopped to sleep at night along the riverside.

They pulled the boat ashore just outside the city of Travnor which was right next to the military outpost. They slowly made they way around the outer edge of the town and once on the north side they headed into the hick forest and into the mountains. They followed several trails and well-worn pathways but could not find the village. Talon suggested they follow the river because every town needed water and most were set up near rivers and streams.

After searching the mountains for almost 3 weeks, Talon came across a badly maintained narrow stone pathway that lead up into the mountains through an overgrown forest. The pathway finally emerged from the forest into a vast, open yet curiously empty city. They walked through the sparsely inhabited market settlement that was spread-out below a medium-sized castle of pale grey stone that sat upon a gentle rise that stood astride the river that they had been following.

The castle looked a lot more like a fancy well-fortified fort than a castle but it had several notable features that they learned about after spending a bit of time in the marketplace talking and listening to some of the people tell their stories. There was some kind of mysterious magical artifact that was kept in a massive sacred shrine that had huge beautifully carved gates. They were kept locked all the time and had soldiers on the inside and outside patrolling the walls and parapets keeping watch for anyone trying to enter the shrine.

The nearby halfling town of Keldar contained a bustling market and its inhabitants were friendly to them. When they asked about staying in the town, they were told that they were welcome as long as they followed the rules and didn’t steal or cause trouble. They were shown some old huts that had been abandoned and were told that they could live in any one of them as long as they repaired it and made it look nice. They village wanted the place to look clean and everyone had to keep their area clean and in good repair.

Talon and Aldur picked two small huts that were set close to each other and fixed them up, they cleaned the inside and the roof of both as well as the yards around the huts. Aldur was really good with the buildings and managed to build a couple walls between the two huts connecting them together making the new hut quite large and comfortable. Many of the village members noticed that he had done good work and hired him to help them fix up their huts or shacks so they were bigger and nicer looking. They paid him with food or clothes, some even gave him a little money. 

Talon found an older lady that made blankets and floor mats not far from her hut. After a while of talking with the woman, she let her know that she could make blankets too. They worked it out that Talon would work for the woman and help her make blankets and the woman would show her how she made her other crafts. Talon was very talented and fast with the blankets and soon she was making some with designs that she remembered form her home village.

She and Aldur became close and started sharing one end of their hut. They were happy and starting to make something of their lives. The old woman became sick and then died leaving the blanket business to Talon. She started to earn a bit of money and then started buying a few cattle, which the half-lings were very well known for. They were involved in all types of spices and were also known for its mines. They dug out and sold platinum and several other ores and several finished metal goods; mostly weapons – swords, spears, pikes, shields, chainmail and armor.

Talon became friends with an odd half-ling who claimed to be half-Elf. His name was Tiran and he told stories about his people, the Night Elves, and how they had lived for years and years all over this land long before the humans arrived. He said that his people and the humans fought over the land because the humans claimed it was now theirs and wouldn’t let them enter the land without permission. They also fought about the trees and many other things the humans were destroying to build their huge cities. His people believed that the land was there for everyone to use not for some to own and keep others out. They could not come to any workable agreements.

After a while there were just far too many humans and between the killings and bad times for his people, they moved far away. He showed her his ears and told her that his people had points on their ears and how he had been jumped by a bunch of drunk men one night and they had cut his ears completely off. He told her that looking and being different was very dangerous in this world.

He made fantastic weapons and even agreed to show Talon how to use them if she would trade him a few blankets. She started training everyday after working on her blankets and very quickly became skilled in all the different combat skills that he showed her. Aldur was not comfortable with her becoming so good with all the many different weapons she now had at their home but she said that she wanted to be able to protect herself and never wanted to be afraid or weak again.

They had been happy and making a good start at their new life for just over a year when one day while they were walking through the market, a very large man came running from across the marketplace and tackled Aldur to the ground. He started beating on him and yelling at him but Talon was too startled to understand what he was saying. She grabbed a battle staff from a nearby booth and started beating the man trying to get him to stop hitting Aldur. She was grabbed from behind by 2 other men who were with the man fighting with Aldur. The men had thought that since she was a young girl, she wasn’t going to be a problem but they had guessed wrong. She managed to kick the one holding her hard enough that he loosened his grip and she dropped out of his arms, rolled across the ground to her staff and came up swinging. 

She slammed the staff into the side of the first mans head and then shoved the end of it into the belly of the man that grabbed her, she then stuck the 3rd man several times in the back of his head and he ended up face-down in the dirt. She then ran at the man that grabbed her and hit him at a full run right in the face with the end of the staff. As he went down she pole-vaulted up and over landing right in his big belly with both feet. She kicked him in the side of his head and then turned back to Aldur.

He was getting a beating and Talon could see the man was not letting up. She ran at him from the side and swung the staff with all he strength into the side of his head. She hit him so hard, the staff snapped in two which caused him to flip over the other side on Aldur rolling to a stop flat on his back. His mouth was gaped open and you could see that several teeth were now missing from one side of his face. She checked on Aldur and found that he was missing at least one tooth and had a lot of blood all over his face but he was in fairly good shape.

She helped him stand and then quickly started rummaging through the now unconscious men’s pockets. She found a small fortune in coin and several pieces of paper but since she couldn’t read they did her no good. She found a wrapped bundle in the first man’s coat pocket and it held a nice looking necklace, so she took it for her troubles. She then grabbed Aldur and they left the area before the peace guards arrived. She walked with Aldur’s arm around her shoulders and his hood pulled up to hide his face.

She walked him around the market and into a small alley so that she could grab and couple different wraps for hoods and to wrap around her like a skirt. She was trying to hide them in among the marketers by changing their appearance. She kept walking Aldur around the market, cutting across the middle and going back the opposite way they started until no one seemed to look in their direction before she cut down another alley and away from the market area. She found a small shed behind a large hut and they hid in it until it was dark and then they quickly walked to their hut and hid inside without lights.

After getting Aldur settled and cleaned up, he fell off to sleep. She grabbed up her sword and 2 small fighting batons and hid across the street in the neighbors barn watching the house to see if anyone came around. She watched until just before sunup and then snuck back int their hut without waking him up. She nodded off to sleep for about 3 hours and woke when she heard him moaning. She gave him some water and checked on his bruises before asking, “Why did that man attack you like that?”

Aldur drank a little more water and said, “That was my uncle and his friend, the one that told me about this place, I don’t know the other guy with them.”

Talon asked, “Ok, but why did he attack you like that?”

Aldur grimaced and touched his mouth saying, “Because when I left, I didn’t want him coming after me so I broke his leg while he was asleep and then I ran off.”

Talon replied, “You what? Why did you break his leg? Why didn’t you just knock him out and tie him up?”

Aldur said, “I was afraid, did you see the size of him? Besides, I didn’t think of it.”

Talon looked around the hut and said, “We need to pack up what we can and get out of here before the soldiers show up.”

Just then there was a knock at the door, Talon peaked out and saw it was Tiran. She let him in and then closed the door behind him. He looked at Aldur then at her and said, “That was a pretty bad fight in the market yesterday. Do you know why it happened?”

Aldur replied, “It was my uncle and we will be leaving as soon as we pack.”

Tiran looked at each of them and said, “Whether you have to leave or can stay will be between you and the counsel but I know that the soldiers have collected the 3 men you left in the market and I understand that they want the guards to catch you and have you punished.”

Talon said, “Why should we have to leave or worry about the guards? We were the ones that they attacked, we only defended ourselves. I had no idea who they were until just an hour ago, when Aldur woke up and told me.”

Tiran replied, “That will be what you need to tell the guards. I don’t know how much support you will get from the people that were in he market because they have already packed up and left the city. They are probably already out of the mountains. The counsel will worry about whether they return and how that will affect the city as for revenue.”

Talon said, “So, because they jumped us and the city is going to lose out on a bit of money, they are going to make us leave? That isn’t fair? It wasn’t our fault or doing, they attacked us?”

Tiran replied, “The way the counsel looks at these things is if you were not here, they wouldn’t have come here to jump you and the village would not lose money. Either way, you will find out tomorrow what they decide. I am not here as the counsel or guards, I just wanted to see that you were ok.”

They visited a little longer and then Tiran left. Talon came back in the room and said, “I say we don’t wait for the counsel or the guards and we just take off now. That way your uncle and his friends will still be held by the guards and we can get away.”

Aldur looked at her and said, “I think you are right.”


	5. Chapter 5

They spent the rest of the day and into the evening packing and getting everything ready to go. They waited until after the guards made their rounds just before the mid-night hour and left the village and their life behind. This was hard, though they had not lived there long it had been very good and they were both very sad to have to leave. They traveled slowly all night and by sunup they were on the far southside of the mountains heading into flatter forest lands. They continued on until the sun was high in the sky and they were beat. The set up a camp and fell asleep right away.

Talon woke to an unusual noise and after checking she found a small fire with 2 Greyskins burning some type of animal in the fire. They looked like they were going to eat it. She pulled back out of sight and slowly circled around their camp area searching for others but after completely circling their camp twice she knew they were alone. She came out of the brush down wind and stayed to the shadows until she was ready to attack. Finally she was ready and just before she jumped out on them, Aldur came around a tree at the other end saying something about he could smell cooking meat.

She run up behind them as they stood to face Aldur and slashed the first one across the back dropping it immediately to the ground. She sidestepped and spun toward the second one just as he turned toward her. She slashed its belly low and deep. She kept spinning and used the force to raise the sword and cut the things throat almost completely through. It staggered and the dropped to it’s knees then flopped flat on it’s face. 

Aldur just stood there watching as she took both of them out. He looked at her with what she took to be fear. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds then said, “What the hell was that?”

She quickly moved to the fire to inspect the burning meat and found it to be a fairly fresh Remmick. The meat still had blood seeping from it as it cooked. She also found a few dirt covered roots that she recognized as edible and bagged them along with several other things from around the fire. She looked at Aldur and said, “Don’t just stand there help me grab up this stuff. They don’t need it and we don’t need to waste it. Grab up some of the wood that is already burning and we will make our own fire, hurry up.”

After a few seconds he started grabbing burning pieces of wood and headed back to their camp to start the fire while Talon grabbed the meat and iron spit uprights so she could hang the meat over the fire again. She quickly moved everything they could use and then dragged the dead bodies further into the woods and into a small hole under the roots of an over-turned tree. She covered them loosely with branches and dead wood because the animals need to eat too.

After she finished breaking down the other camp she came back and sat down just in time to get freshly cooked meat. She was hungry. She had to handle the roots easy because they were hot from the fire but tasted pretty good. As they were finishing their meal Aldur asked, “What happened back there?”

She finished the mouthful of meat and said, “I went to find some fire wood and found them sitting around their fire. I circled around to the down wind side to make sure they were alone and was ready to attack them when you walked around that tree and into their camp. What were you doing?”

Aldur looked at her and asked, “What do you mean, what was I doing? I was worried about you and came looking for you? How was I to know they were there and you were getting ready to attack them?”

“That’s my point, Aldur, you didn’t know because you don’t pay attention when you are in the woods or anywhere else where there is danger. You just walk around like your in your own yard or in town. Out here you can’t let down your guard or you will get killed. If I had walked off the other direction you would have walked into them unarmed and alone and I wouldn’t have been able to help you,” she said.

Aldur was getting mad and sad, “Great, you yell at me and blame me for not knowing that they were here. How was I suppose to know they were there?”

Talon signed and said, “You could have used your nose and common-sense.”

Aldur snapped, “What do you mean by that?”

She said, “As you walked out from around that tree you were talking loudly, I guess you thought you were talking to me. You said that you could smell meat cooking, right?”

He said, “Yeah, something like that, I guess.”

Talon continued, “Well, if you could smell meat cooking, either there was a forest fire and it was killing and cooking the animals, or there were possibly a homestead nearby and we wouldn’t want them to know we were here so we wouldn’t go strolling through the woods talking as loudly as we could, or it could have been a camp fire for someone we definitely don’t want to know we were there. Any one of those ideas should have ran through your mind when you smelled cooking meet in the big empty unfriendly forest.”

He just sat there looking down at his food for a little while then said, “I completely screwed up, didn’t I?”

Talon smiled at him and said, “Well, not completely. When you came around that tree you completely surprised them and that gave me the advantage over them. By the time they knew what was happening, they were dead.”

Aldur smiled and said, “So I did good then, right?”

Talon smiled back and said, “No, but it wasn’t all bad. Finish eating and get this stuff cleaned and packed. I want to be ready to leave at dawn. There’s no telling if more Greyskins will come looking for those 2.”

Aldur said, “Right, ok I will get on it and Talon, thanks for being there to save me.”

She smiled and punched him playfully in the arm saying, “No problem, just think a little more about where you are, ok?”

Aldur said, “Yeah, ok will do.”

They cleaned up their camp, took all the trash that wouldn’t burn and buried it out in the woods away from their camp area. They added a little wood to the fire and then settled in for the night. It was a little cool but no rain so the fire burned long into the morning and was almost just coals when Talon woke that next morning. She laid in her blankets listening to the forest sounds not hearing anything that sounded wrong so she got up and made her way down to the small stream she had found and washed the sleep and dirt away. She wanted to take a long swim to soak all the dirt away but they didn’t have the time today.

As she made her way through the trees back to her camp, she heard voices. She slowly made her way up to the edge of their camp and saw that there were 6 soldiers of the Prime Order picking through their packs. She spotted Aldur off to the side being held by 2 soldiers while one was asking him questions and another was punching him in the face or stomach when he didn’t answer fast enough or say what they wanted to hear.

She didn’t have her sword or any of her weapons except her mother’s old knife that she always carried. She looked around and noticed that all of their weapons had been collected up and piled in the middle of the clearing near the fire. She knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get to her sword very easily with all those men that close to it. She watch as the men moved around the camp and then noticed one guy say something and step away from the camp into the trees. She followed him and found him squat down near a tree. She waited until he finished and as he stood to buckle up his pants, she knocked him in the back of the head with a good sized rock.

She pulled his body over into some thick bushes and took his sword, battle baton and ball mace. She turned to head back to the camp when she heard the other soldier heading her way. He came tromping through the forest with no regard for trying to be quiet, shouting, “Hey, Yorgey, where are you. Hope you didn’t get eaten by a Greyskin while taking a dump, har-har-har. Where you at man?”

As he went stomping by her hiding place, she jumped up on his back and sliced his throat before he could make a noise. She rode him to the ground and the kicked a bunch of leaves and some branches over his body. She then quietly made her way back to the camp and the other soldiers and Aldur. She came up real close to where they had thrown Aldur on the ground. The same one that had been hitting him was now kicking him for slow or wrong answers. The one asking questions seemed to be their leader.

The other two had sat down to relax on a fallen log between Aldur and the trees where she was hiding. She slid over behind the first one and waited until he leaned back like he was going to go to sleep. His buddy said something about not falling asleep and he said he was fine, just needed to sit for a few minutes. When he finished speaking, Talon reached out and grabbed the back of his helmet and pulled back hard while shoving the sword under the edge of the helmet and into the back of his neck. He didn’t make a sound, just went slack and stayed right there.

She quietly moved over behind the other and did the same thing. Now she had just the 2 nearest Aldur to deal with. She managed to find a couple nice sharp knives from the dead soldiers and when she was ready, she stood up and threw the knives at the last 2 soldiers. The first knife struck the leader in the side of the neck. He quickly grabbed it and yanked it out which caused the blood to pour out the now gaping open wound and he dropped to the ground quickly.

The second knife struck the soldier under his armor in the back of his right arm pit. It sank deep in the soft tissue. He screamed and grabbed the knife and jerked it out and the blood flew. He rushed her with the knife and took a couple swings but slowly started to slow down and then he just fell over on his face. She quickly checked all the bodies to make sure they were dead and removed their weapons to a safe distance.

She then went to check on Aldur. He was unconscious from the beating and bleeding all over. She quickly started cleaning him up, checking his wounds and found a stab wound on his lower back and he was bleeding thin black looking blood. It was not like her blood which meant they had damaged some internal organs. She grabbed her knife and stuck it in the fire while she finished checking and cleaning his wounds.

She found 3 really bad cuts besides the stab wound, so when the blade of the knife was glowing yellowish red she struck it on the wounds sealing them shut. Aldur had scream after the first one but then passed out for the other two. She checked the stab wound and noticed it seemed to be slowing down in the bleeding so he cut the wound open a little more and found where the main cut had happened. She took the knife and cauterized the cut and hoped that she didn’t cause more problems by doing it. She then closed him back up and cauterized the outer wound.

She sat back and drank some water after tending to his wounds, she then decided that she needed to do something about the dead bodies. She thought about burying them but realized that would take far to long and she wasn’t strong enough to drag them far enough away from the camp. She then thought about the Greyskins and after digging them up, she dragged their bodies over and stabbed them with the soldiers blades and then stabbed the soldiers with the Greyskins weapons.   
When she was done, it looked like they had fought and killed each other.

After she finished with that, she managed to get all of their stuff re-packed and then she headed out until she had put quite a distance between there and the old camp. She then dropped everything and returned for Aldur. She managed to get him up over her shoulder and carried him to the new campsite. After getting Aldur settled, she laid down and fell asleep almost immediately. She woke early to a noise and after searching around she found a couple wolves had found the bodies and were having a full meal.

She snuck back to camp, repacked and moved all of their gear to another site and then went back and moved Aldur. She did this leap-frog moving throughout the rest of the day and then the next until she had put several miles between then and the location of the dead soldiers. Aldur slept off and on for almost 6 days before he could stand. By then Talon had found a cave in some hills nearby and he was able to walk on his own, though he was slow, they moved to the cave and settled in to stay for a while.

There was a good sized stream close for water and fish. Talon had hunted the woods and found quite a few rabbits and Remmick close and she made sure they had plenty of meat. She and Aldur had searched the area near the cave and found several different types of roots and other edible goods which they picked and took back to the cave.

Talon had found some cooking pots in the soldiers packs and had taken a couple to use for their meals. She was able to cook up a fairly tasty stew. It wasn’t great but it was edible and they both needed their energies charged up after the fights, especially Aldur. He was healing slowly but was still weak and tired easily, complaining about the pain in his lower backside.

They had stayed in the cave for almost 4 months before Talon had seen several Prime Order patrols combing through the nearby forest. She had also seen several Greyskin groups and she figured that whatever was getting all these people moving around was something she wanted to avoid. So they packed up their gear and waited until almost dark before setting out. They weren’t sure which way to go but they knew that there were a lot of Prime Order soldiers around so heading south or east was probably a bad idea.

They headed mostly north and a little east until they came to the Tyber River and then headed east along it until they were able to cross. They stayed away from most of the larger villages and towns but would sometimes slide into one of the smaller villages for food or the ask directions or quietly take a few things, mostly food, and then head back out again. In one village, Talon met and talked with an old blind woman. She said she had lived in the area for almost 60 full seasons. She had a husband and children but they were either dead or had moved on but she was just fine living right here.

She had told Talon stories about a village way to the north of here just south of the Ridgeline Mountains, where only a race of Elves with double tipped ears and black blood had lived for hundreds of years. She wasn’t sure if any still lived there or if they were still alive after all these years. She also told her about a group of Mountain Trolls that lived up on the far northeast end of the Ridgeline Mountains. She said that they were very hard to find and that they didn’t like humans much because of all the troubles they cause.

She provided Talon with an old map that her brother had used when he ran away from home and lived in the Ridgeline Mountains. He had lived there for almost 20 years, he even lived with the Trolls for a few years. He came home but couldn’t get used to all the people so he left again but left her the maps if anyone needed to find him.

Talon took the maps and talked Aldur into heading north into the mountains. It was up in the Waste Lands and no Prime Order would bother them up there. The old woman gave them some food and some trade goods that they could use with the Trolls. She asked that they take a letter to her brother, if he was still alive. Talon said she would try to find him and thanked the old woman.

They headed out and found the land fairly barren with only a few trees. They didn’t see any animals or rivers or streams for miles and miles. They had traveled for almost 4 days before finding a small stream with drinkable water. They had run out of food when the crossed over a small set of hills and found a beautiful thick forest set down in a low valley. They set up camp in the valley and found plenty of game for their meals. The animals were small but tasty. Talon found some roots but most were different from any she had seen before. They tried several and found a few that tasted good but they also found several that were really bad, bitter or sour.

They stayed in the valley for 6 days, just resting and enjoying being free and alone. When they were ready to move on, they had gathered quite a lot of roots, fruits and some dried meats to eat along the way. They figured that it might be just like the first part of their trip. They traveled back into the same dry lonely landscape as before and didn’t run into another valley or much vegetation for almost 2 weeks.

They could see cloud covered mountains off in the far distance and hopped that they were the Ridgeline Mountains. About 2 days after spotting the mountains, Talon had climbed up in a large almost dead tree to see if she could see anything near them and spotted a low green hill off to their east. They turned and went looking for the green hill. They found it 2 days later and when they climbed over it they found another lush valley set low between the green hills and some fairly high rocky hills. They wondered in and set up a camp. 

After another 2 days, Talon found the remnants of what looked like a small village but it had dried up a long time ago. Talon and Aldur searched over the entire village and only found a few small stones that had some strange characters carved in them. She was familiar with the language that her mother spoke with the other villagers so she didn’t know if it was part of the Blackblood that had lived around here or not. At the far end of the village was the remains of a small stone building. Talon thought it may have been a church or meeting place. She checked around and found a short wall that hadn’t been knocked down. On it was a familiar symbol and when she remembered her mother’s knife she pulled it out and it was the same symbol. She was positive that this was the village of the Blackbloods the old woman had told her about.

Aldur had been watching her ever since they found the old village and then he noticed the symbols on the knife and the wall and decided to asked her about them. She just looked at him for a while and then said, “This is the village of the Blackbloods that the old woman told us about. My mother and her people were also Blackbloods and I just found the same symbol that is on my mother’s knife here on this buildings wall. These people were somehow related to my mother and me.”

Aldur sat looking at her for a while. He was remembering all the stories he had heard about the dangerous, murdering evil Blackblood race and now he finds out that the girl he is in love with and who he has been living with for almost 2 years was a Blackblood. He finally said, “So, you are a scary, dangerous, murdering monster with black blood. Are you going to kill and eat me now?”

Talon was shocked at his comment but then started laughing and then rolling around with him on the ground until they were dirty and completely wore out. He said, “That would explain a lot, actually.”

She looked at him and asked, “What are you talking about?”

He turned and sat up facing her and said, “Well, first there is your ability to walk or run all day without getting very tired. There is the way you fight with the different weapons and how you know your way all around the woods, and how to hide and evade people. Then there is your freaky ability to hear a mouse fart on the other side of the world.”

Talon’s mouth dropped open and she said, “A mouse fart, why I should take this stick and beat you to death with it.” She hoped over on top of him and wrestled him to the ground saying, “I’m going to mouse fart you, mister smart ass.” They started rolling around and laughing until their sides hurt.

Aldur leaned up on his elbows and asked, “Why did you not tell me before that you were a Blackblood?”

Talon sat up and started fidgeting with a couple small rocks before saying, “I wasn’t sure I wanted you to know. Some people don’t like my people or they are scared of them and I really didn’t want you to leave just because I was a Blackblood. I guess I was scared you’d run off.”

He sat there looking at her for a while and then said, “That makes sense. I mean you have had to deal with a lot of people treating you bad because of your family and we didn’t know each other very well so, it just makes sense. I’m glad you told me but I do have a question.”

Talon smiled and asked, “What question?”

He said, “I had always heard that Blackbloods had pointy ears and a long thin tail and a tongue like a snake but you don’t do you?”

Talon laughed and then leaned over real close and stuck her tongue out at him. She then said, “No we don’t or at least I don’t. I can’t speak for the whole race because I have only ever seen 1 other after my village was destroyed and he tried to kill me.”

Aldur smiled and then he gently touched her ears and asked, “What happened to your ears? It looks like someone had cut your ears pretty deep?”

She shivered when he touched her ears and said, “I didn’t want people to treat me different because of my ears so I cut off the points with a knife. It hurt a lot and I cut them a little deep in some places.”

Aldur looked at them a little more then said, “Well, I hate to tell you this but your ears are ugly and I really would like to have seen them with the points still there.”

Talon smiled and said, “Well thanks for the compliment. You sure know how to treat a lady, buddy.” 

They laughed some more and then got up to head back to their camp when Aldur noticed something sparkle in the dirt. He dug and finally pulled an odd looking ring out of the dirt. He wiped it clean and then handed it to Talon saying, “Here you go lady, a ring just for you.”

She took the ring and looked at it closely. She could make out many of the same type of symbols as she saw on the small rocks and guessed that it must have belonged to one of the Blackbloods that had lived here. It was large so she would have to wear it on a string around her neck but she loved it and leaned over and gave Aldur a kiss on his cheek. He turned about 40 different shades of red and muttered something about not getting mushy but had the biggest smile she had ever seen.

They got back to camp and after a light meal they went to bed and slept soundly. The next morning they packed up and headed for the mountains to the north. They traveled for 2 days without any problems and could clearly make out the mountains maybe 1 more day ahead. They set up camp and immediately Talon felt a dangerous tension in the air. She suggested that they sleep in shifts just to make sure everything was ok. 

They made sure that all of their stuff was packed and ready to go in a moments notice. The night had a slight chill but felt good. Talon could feel something in the air but every time she would check the woods she found nothing. Around midnight Aldur took over and she went to sleep but she didn’t sleep very well until just before dawn. She had finally fallen into a deep sleep and didn’t hear them approach the camp.

Just as it was getting light out Aldur stepped over to wake Talon when something hard struck him across his back and knocked him to the ground. He screamed out and woke talon just as 6 Greyskins came running out of the trees into their camp. Talon had slept in her clothes and was up and ready for them in just a few seconds. She grabbed up her sword and battle staff and headed for the first of the Greyskins.

Aldur struggled to get up and was finding it very difficult to stand up straight but he grabbed his own staff and stuck the nearest Greyskin as he ran at Talon. He swung around and smashed the back of its head as he tried to get up from the first strike. Aldur jumped over the fallen Greyskin and attacked the next one but it had a staff too and caught Aldur’s strike and tossed him off to the side with a strong lift of his staff.

Talon drove the end of the staff into the first one’s stomach and then used the staff to vault over it to kick the second one square in the neck. It dropped to the ground with a crushed airway and lay there gasping for air. She dropped to a crouch and smashed the first one in the side of his head as he stood back up and turned toward her. She swung her staff around and caught a strike from behind with it and ducked and turned to strike this one in the throat just under the chin. While it staggered back chocking she dropped her staff and pulled her sword and swung around cutting its head completely off.

She noticed that Aldur was fighting with 2 at once and not doing too good so she stepped on the headless body and jumped right on top of the first Greyskin she came to. She drove her sword into the back of its neck just above the shoulder blades and twisted the blade before pulling it out. She rode it down to the ground rolled off and came up under the last one fighting Aldur.

Aldur jumped back and fell back onto one of the Greyskins broken staffs and it pierced all the way through his lower midsection. He lay there not understanding what had just happened but he know that he had just made a big mistake. He watched as Talon jumped up and over the Greyskin and watched her sink her sword into the back of its head before she landed on her feet.

She turned and stood in a ready fighting stance looking around to see if there were any more to fight. When she saw that they were all dead she stood up and looked over at Aldur and then saw the staff through his stomach. She quickly ran over to him and dropped to her knees. She was crying as she looked at the staff. He looked up and smiled at her saying, “I am so tough that I am the only one that could even hurt me. They couldn’t even touch me.”

She started to say something but he said, “Whatever you do, do not leave my body laying here for them to find and eat. Please don’t leave my body for them. Burn it, put me in the fire and burn my body up, please I beg of you.” Before Talon could reply, Aldur started coughing and shaking all over. Blood started running out of his mouth and down his shirt. His eyes glazed over and his head rolled back.

Talon hugged him close and cried and cried. She didn’t want to let go of him because she knew that would make it final. Finally, after a couple hours she stopped crying and let him drop to the ground. She pulled the staff out of him and used it to beat the nearest Greyskin to a bloody mess. She then started gathering all the packs and gear and she moved it away from the camp. Then she dragged the Greyskins into a circle around the fire. She gathered up a huge pile of firewood and stacked a bunch up and placed Aldur’s body on top and then she covered it with almost twice as much more wood.

She set the pile of wood on fire and stepped back to watch it burn. It burned for 3 hours before it finally collapsed in on Aldur’s body. She pile on more wood and watched it burn for another 2 hours making sure that his body was burned up and nothing was left. She then dragged the Greyskins over on top of the remaining fire and let them burn. She loaded up the packs and headed for the mountains.


	6. Chapter 6

Talon had managed to get most all of the equipment, food and extra clothing into the 2 packs but they were heavy and hard to carry. Along with her weapons it was almost impossible. She had to stop several more times that normal and finally by the end of the third day, she stripped down both packs and made 1 manageable pack that she could carry. She didn’t come across any Greyskins or anyone else since she started out alone.

By the end of the 5th day, she had reached the edge of the mountains. They started out low but quickly rose high above the ground she had been traveling. She needed to find a path or an easy way to climb up on these mountains. She walked along the south side of the mountains heading west of almost 2 days but didn’t find anything that looked like a way up the mountains.

She turned around and walked east past her starting point until she came to the small foothills on the far east end. She searched through these foot hills and around to the north and up into the beginnings of the mountain. After walking and searching for 5 days she way ready to give up when she realized that she was about a third of the way up the back side of the mountain. She had missed it because it was so slow in rising. She kept going and camped on the side of the trail each night. 

The next morning she got an early start, heading out just before the sun came up. As she walked she got the strong feeling that she was being followed or at least watched. She stopped often looking all around and even taking short trips of the route and into the side area of the hill path. She decided to stop and set up camp early. She had no fire, ate a small meal and went o sleep early. She didn’t sleep but was very attentive to the sounds all around her.

She got up a couple hours before sunrise and took off in a hurry. She was almost running for just over an hour and then she left the path at a very narrow point and hid high in the rocks to watch. Just after sunrise 2 human liking men came walking down the path, but they didn’t look normal. After they got closer Talon could see that they were incredibly ugly and huge. They had disfigured faces with oversized noses, distorted eyes, deformed teeth and huge ears. The biggest of the 2 had 2 small horns on top of his head, warts all over his body along with wiry looking hair and scaly looking skin, long arms and was humpbacked.

She figured that these 2 were mountain trolls. She had never seen a troll before by she had heard several people describe them and these 2 looked just like what she had heard and they were searching the area as they walked and she figured they were looking for her.

She waited and watch as they worked their way past her hiding spot and far up the trail. She was sure they were still waiting for her so she settled in and waited. After a couple hours they came back down the trail heading back toward he camp. As they passed her, she quietly climbed out of hiding and hurried up the trail away from them. She was pretty sure that they would have others watching the trail so she moved off the trail and started traveling the mountain the same way she traveled the roadways when she first started out.

It was slower going and she had to stop often to see if she was being followed. She didn’t feel that tingly feeling on the back of her neck so she figured she was ok. After almost 2 weeks of working her way through the mountains, she came to a long deep gorge that had a swinging foot bridge crossing it. She knew that there would be someone watching the bridge and there was no way for her to get across without someone seeing her. Her game of hide and seek with the trolls had come to an end.

She knew that these monsters are not usually depicted as being very friendly, in fact, they were often described as cannibals and man-eaters. She had heard that they would intercept and block the passages for travelers and cause many to perish without reaching their journey’s end. She had never met a troll but she had heard all kinds of stories. She had also heard all kinds of stories about her people, the Blackbloods, and they were not true. She decided that she needed to find out the truth and the only way was to go out there and visit them. She hoped that it would be a visit anyway.

She re-checked her pack making sure it was tied down tightly. She re-checked all of her weapons and made sure they were all tied down and secure, except her sword, knife and staff. She then made sure she was properly dressed and ready to go out there. She then started walking towards the bridge. She could hear rustling in the bushes and rocks behind her as she got closer to the bridge. She paused for a few seconds to make it look like she was checking the bridge for safety and then she started across it with strong regular strides.

As she reached about the middle of the bridge she saw several very large men, Trolls she figured, gather at the end of the bridge. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw 4 more standing at that end of the bridge. She didn’t slow down but did get her fighting mode ready to turn on. As she got closer to the end of the bridge, she slowed but didn’t stop until the largest one standing in the middle of them raised his hand to her and said something she figured was stop.

He spoke in a clear loud voice but she didn’t understand anything he said. After he spoke for a while, he paused and they all watched her. She took a couple steps closer and then spoke clearly and loudly to him. She told him that she was looking for the town where the trolls lived. She said she did not want to fight or hurt anyone. She then asked if anyone understood what she was saying.

She stood there looking back at them as they mumbled and talked among themselves until she clearly heard a smaller voice say, “Yes, some of us do understand what you say. We don’t like humans very much and are wondering what you are doing here?” The voice was coming from behind the big one that had stopped her.

She smiled and said, “That is good that we can talk and as for not liking humans, I would agree. I am not a human, I am a Blackblood, the last of my people. They were murdered by the humans when I was very young. I have been on my own for many years and I am just looking for a safe and friendly place to settle down for a while.”

The one that understood her must be telling the rest what she had said. After a few minutes, a smaller person stepped around the large troll. It was a female troll and she was very human looking yet still had the troll features. She walked out on the bridge and said, “We have heard terrible things that the humans have done to your people. We have known many of your people and please know that we do feel for them. You are mistaken about being the last of your kind.”

Talon was surprised when she said that and asked, “Do you know where other Blackbloods live?”

The female smiled and said, “I am Jooma and you are welcome to come to our village. You need rest and food after your long journey. We will talk and you will know all, soon.”

Talon stepped closer and extended her arm toward Jooma who looked at it and then did the same in return. Talon smiled big and grasped her forearm in her hand and shock it as a small hug. Jooma smiled back and then helped her across the bridge. The largest male took her pack off her back as if it weigh nothing and he carried it ahead of them as they walked to her village. Which turned out to be very close to the bridge and very large. There were hundreds of trolls everywhere.

She also noticed that there were many that were not trolls, too. Some she didn’t recognize at all and some she guessed could be familiar but had to be mixed with human and other races as well. Jooma told her a little about the village and how they had managed to stay hidden from the humans for many years.

She chocked back a small laugh saying, “It is said that most of the humans think these mountains are haunted by evil demons so they just stay as far away as they can.”

Talon smiled and said, “Yes, I have heard that too and had been warned never to come here because I would die a horrible death.”

Jooma smiled and said, “That is good that they think that. Hopefully they will never come here.”

Talon smiled and nodded her head saying, “That is the best we can hope for but sooner or later someone will want to test their bravery or challenge the mystery and then they will be here.”

Jooma nodded her head right along with her saying, “That is true, but let us hope that it is later, much later.”

They walked through much of the village until the large troll stopped and said something to Jooma. She looked at Talon and asked, “I would be honored if you would stay with me in my home. It is not large or fancy but it is warm and comfortable. We can work on where you will stay in a few days, if it is ok with you?”

Talon smiled and said, “I also would be honored to be your guest and I am quite sure your home is much better than the dry dirty ground I have ne sleeping on.”

Jooma laughed at that and then told the male that they would be staying here. He quickly went up the steps to a ladder and then up to another layer and then out of sight. Talon followed Jooma as she followed where the other had gone and soon they were standing in what looked like a large cave that had walls and window openings cut right into the side of the cliff face.

If it was a cave, it was the fanciest she had ever seen. It was larger than the hut that she and Aldur had together and nicer that any house she had ever lived in except Anna’s. Jooma took she back into the home to a small room that had a heavy blanket covering the doorway. She told her that she could use this room to sleep and store her stuff. She also told Talon, “We don’t normally allow visitors to carry weapons in the village for a while, anyway, so if you could please leave your weapons in here for now it would be good.”

Talon thought for a few seconds and then asked, “Would it be ok to carry my walking staff. I have been carrying it for a couple years and I would feel strange without it in my hands?”

Jooma smiled and said, “Your walking staff should be just fine but please be very careful.” Just then the large male stuck his head in the room and said something to Jooma. After she replied she said, “You have been invited to eat dinner with my family. It is only my father and my 2 brothers, but we would be honored if you would come, if you are not too tired from traveling.”

Talon was quite surprised at the offer and quickly said, “No, I am fine and yes I would love to meet your family and share a meal. That would really be great, thank you.”

Jooma smiled real big and said something to the male who smiled and replied before leaving the home. She turned and said, “I think my brother likes you. He was very happy that you will come eat with us.”

Talon smiled and said, “That was your brother?”

Jooma said, “Oh yes, I am bad for not introducing you. He is Jorma and he is my baby brother.”

Talon laughed and said, “Baby brother, he is huge. What is your other brother like? Is he as big as a tree?”

Jooma laughed and said, “I like you, very funny. Jorma is the youngest and I am the oldest. Males grow very large but he is one of the biggest in this village. Our other brother is between us and a little smaller than Jorma. His name is Hgul. I think we can be good friends. Lets us make you ready and comfortable then we go to my father’s home.”

Jooma helped Talon set up her bed which were several very thick stuffed furs and arrange her clothes and stuff so that she was comfortable in her new room. Jooma then showed her where she could clean up and wash her hair if she wanted. She enjoyed getting clean for the first time in weeks. They then dressed and headed out to Jooma’s family home. On the way, Jooma would tell her about some of the people or building that they would see.

They were walking back across the village but had turned north about halfway across. The continue until they came to a fairly large single home building. It had doors but no glass in the windows. It looked like an important building and Jooma said that he father was the senior village elder and the Bispen of the village.

Talon asked what that meant and Jooma said, “It is like the religious advisor to the king for the humans but here he is the village leader.”

Talon smiled and said, “Wow, that makes you important then?”

Jooma smiled back and said, “No, not at all. In the human world the family of the leader act like they are important and are privileged but among my people it is my father who is important not my brothers or me. We are just regular villagers.”

Talon stopped and looked at her and then said, “I would say that you are a lot more than just a regular villager, you speak the human language very well and I have not heard or seen any others that can.”

Jooma smiled and said, “Well, thank you I work very much to speak and understand humans. There are several in the village but I am the best. My father thought it would help if we had someone that could speak with the human so he had me start learning when I was very young.”

Talon said, “Well, you are very good. Do you teach others? Are you a teacher?”

Jooma said proudly, “Yes, I teach human and I teach some history for our young. So many males just want to fight and work but they don’t want to learn. Most of the students are females. The younger ones are very eager to learn and I can’t keep up with them sometimes.”

Talon smiled but hung her head saying, “Well, I can’t say much about learning, I was never a good student and have never really tried to learn much more than what I needed to survive and get by.”

Jooma noticed and said, “Well, that is not really your fault though. You have been running and hiding from the humans and all of your people were killed. I think you have done quite well for yourself considering all of that.”

Talon smiled back and said, “Thanks, it has been hard and I know that it isn’t my fault but I still would like to get some learning before I am too old.”

Jooma smiled and said, “Well, first, you are never too old. I have a few women that have grown children and they are in my classes working hard. And if you stay around here for a while maybe we could help you learn something.”

Talon and Jooma hugged as friends and laughed as they stepped up to the door of her father’s house. Jorma was waiting and opened the door just before they got to it and smiled big as Talon came in. there was much talk among Jooma and her brothers and she was introduced by name to each of them and they tried to say her name. Jorma had been practicing all afternoon and he was doing a pretty good job on it too.

Jooma’s father came in and they all sat down at the table Talon was very surprised that they sat and ate dinner mostly like the humans except they used their hands instead of forks but did use a large wooden spoon for stews. Talon didn’t feel uncomfortable at all with the dinner arrangement and enjoyed the food as it was well seasoned and hot. They drink was a very odd but strong ale like drink and she figured that it would take a while to get used to it.

After they had finished eating, Hgul and Jooma cleared the dishes and brought out more ale. Jooma’s father said, “I am Bispen and I speak some human. Jooma is good, I am not so good. You pretty for humans, my Jorma think same. I no think same, I like big and fat woman with hair on nose for me.” They all started laughing except Jooma who just scolded her father with her eyes.

Talon smiled at their laughing and said, “Thank you Bispen for letting me share this meal. You are a wonderful host.” Bispen grunted and laughed then raised his mug to her and drank heavily.

He had his cup refilled and asked her, “How you find here? My Jorma said you hide real good until the crossing.”

Talon smiled across the table at Jorma and said, “I was worried someone was following me and might try to hurt me so I hid. I was told about your village by an old woman who said her brother lived here with you. Maybe you know of him, his name is Olsen, Murray Olsen.”

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, then Bispen asked Jooma a question and she answered him. He nodded and she said, “We know this human as Mary Oson, but must be same. He lived here for many seasons, sometime he would travel into the Waste Land, be gone 2-3 seasons then he come back. He have stories and things he find to show everyone. Very nice for human.”

Talon asked, “Is he still here? Is he still alive?”

Bispen cleared his throat and said, “Last time he come back, he sick. We try to fix him but he bad sick. He dead now 2 seasons.”

Jooma said, “He was good man. He was my teacher, he teach human speak to many of us here. He and father good friends.”

Talon saw that Bispen was slowly shaking his head and she said, “I am sorry for the loss of your friend and teacher. I was asked by his sister to bring him a letter. But now I am too late.”

Everyone was quiet for a couple minutes before Bispen said, “You no ask for Wren or Jaal. Do you know these Blackblood?”

Jooma spoke up, “I have not told her about them yet, father. She just arrive and we clean house before dinner. I was to tell her tonight and then meet tomorrow.”

He nodded his head and said, “Good, they are good people. Ok, food and drink done. Go easy to you home.” He stood and left the room. Jorma said something and Jooma answered him with a pat on his huge arms. She turned to Talon and waved her to follow as she left the house.

They walked along and Talon noticed that Jorma stood at the door and was watching them as they walked away. Jooma softly said, “I am afraid that Jorma really likes you. He asked if he could walk you back to my home but I told him that you were very tired from your travel and needed to get much sleep. He is large but has a soft heart, be careful with him.”

Talon wasn’t sure what to say at first then she asked, “Do I need to worry that he might hurt me?”

Jooma laughed and said, “Only if he sits on you.” They both laughed at that, then Jooma said, “He wouldn’t hurt you but he try to be more friendly than you want. Remember he is very big but is not yet grown and may act much like young one.”

Talon smiled and said, “I understand. I am not looking for mate or really close male friend but I will be nice. He seems like nice guy.”

Jooma said, “Oh he is very nice, so nice I hope I find mate just like he is. He would be good mate and strong father.”

They were quiet the rest of the way until just before arriving at the first ladder when Talon asked, “Who are Jaal and Wren? Are they Blackbloods?”

They climbed the ladders and went into her home before she said, “They are 2 very old Blackbloods that came here many, many seasons ago. They have lived here with our people and been very good to us all. Wren is a good teacher for human language and she tells about human history and many things that happen before many of us were born.”

Talon wondered and asked, “Did they ever say where they came from or where they lived? Anything about their people?”

She said, “They never talk much about the before but I hear Wren talk about living near ocean, she say it taste of salt. She say they have to run and hide from the humans in the close village. They live many places and always have to leave so they come to these mountains and find us. Now they live here long time.”

Talon thought that over and asked, “Can we visit them tomorrow? Oh, is there some place I can buy some food to take as a gift?”

Jooma said, “Yes, there is a small day market on the way there. Is that a custom of your people?”

Talon smiled and said, “I don’t remember very much but I do remember that when people came to our house they would bring fruits, flowers or something to drink when they stopped by.”

Jooma smiled again, “Yes, that sounds like a good custom. Maybe I can teach some female about that. Sometimes it is hard to teach new things, even hard to explain to people not like that first.”


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Jooma took Talon by the market and she was able to buy some fruits that Jooma said were tasty before they arrived at a small house on the outskirts of town. Jooma had told her that many of the non-troll people live out a little from town center and don’t like the cliff homes.

Jooma knocked and an old woman opened the door and spoke to Jooma for a few seconds. Jooma introduced them and she quickly started asking her question in a language that Talon was sure her mother spoke but she didn’t remember it. The woman invited them in and they sat in the front room of the small house and she gave them water to drink. Talon offered her the fruit and she smiled and laughed and thanked her several times. The woman disappeared into a back area and returned quickly with a small plate and a knife. She quickly peeled the fruit and offered them some to eat.

They sat and talked and Talon asked question after question about the woman’s home and her people. She was eager to learn everything she could because she had never talked to another Blackblood before. The woman told her that she was only half-Blackblood because her father was a Moon Elf, sometimes called a Night Elf. She said that her son was only a small part Blackblood because his father was another Moon Elf.

She talked of her people and how they weren’t very happy when her mother decided to keep her rather than leave her in the forest when she was born. They didn’t agree with the mixing of the different races but her mother cared a lot for her father. She talked about how she father had moved them from village to village because they didn’t like mixed races. She told how they had lived in a few human towns but that didn’t end well either.

Talon told her about her home village and how it had been destroyed and everyone had been killed by the humans. Wren told her that after her father had been killed while hunting a bear that had been raiding their campsite her mother had taken her to that same town to see some family she had never met. The people were of mixed races living together but they were starting to have problems with humans because they had just built a military outpost near by along the big river. She said that her mother had stayed for a couple months, through the winter, but as soon as spring came they left and headed north.

They talked and talked through the afternoon until Jaal came home. He worked at one of the blacksmith shops tending the fires, they had 3 of them in that shop. He was about 60 years old and tall and strong. He was very shy and didn’t speak human very well but enough so they could understand each other. They visited for another couple hours and then Jooma and Talon left to go home.

Talon was resting and seeing everything she could in and around the village. She would walk across and around the village, into the mountains in every direction until she was familiar with the entire area. She stopped by several of the black smith shops and watched how they did their work. She was fascinated by the knife and sword makers. She had one particular shop that she liked more than the others.

This shop made swords and long knives both. She watched for a couple weeks before she was able to enter the shop without the old troll that ran it throwing something at her to make her leave. She had started picking up some of the troll language, rather quickly according to Jooma, and she was able to ask the grumpy old troll questions about what he was doing and why.

At first he would throw a ladle full of water at her but after a while he started answering her questions and when she didn’t understand or if it was a little complex he would show her how to do certain things. He told her that the first thing she had to know was that you did not have to be big and have a lot of muscle to do a good job with a smiths hammer. He told her the trick was to always use the correct hammer for your arm and to always keep the fires hot. The hotter the fire the softer the metal and the easier to get it the way you want. He always said, “You don’t need to beat it into shape if you can smooth it where you want.”

After a few weeks he had made a set of smith hammers that were perfect for her and she started showing up everyday early and working on making the metal plates ready for the smiths. She would take the raw chunks of metal and hammer it out flat and the cut it and then smooth it out and fold it and then repeat that process until she had folded each block at least 20 times. This worked out all the impurities of the metal and made the end product stronger and last longer.

She then put the blocks in cold water to make the metal contract harder before being put to the fire and the anvil. She enjoyed the work and when it grew cold out she was kept warm all day from the hard work and the fires. She did notice that a lot of female and male villagers would come by the shop to see her working along with the big old males. She knew that the women must think she is crazy and some of the men were scared of her but she didn’t really care.

She had gotten her own house in the cliff, about 2 units away from the unit that Jooma had her home but they got together most nights and talked or hung out with other villagers have fun. They would talk, play games or eat together and she was very happy. Sometimes she would do things with Jorma but she had made sure he understood that she only wanted a friend and that she didn’t want him to get crazy for her.

She had met the nephew of the black smith and they became friends. His name was Vellec but he went by Als. He was much smaller than most of the others and they picked on him a lot. She found out that he was half-troll, half-Night Elf. His mother had fallen for an elf and then he ran off when she became pregnant. He was fine with it because his uncle was kind to him and took care of his mother. He told her that he was not very good in the black smith shop but had gotten pretty good with the different weapons that they made.

She got with him sometime to train and spar. They were pretty good and after a while she was besting him at every move. He took her to meet with Jaal and she found out that he was some kind of master with weapons and he had been training Als for a couple years. He agreed to teach her and soon they were training almost every day after work.

It wasn’t long before she and Jaal started training alone because she was quickly getting faster and better than Als. She trained on the sword, then on 2 swords at once, then she learn how to use the larger two-handed sword. She learned to fight with knives, short blades and long blades both. She learned to use different sized blades or a knife and a sword. She fought with a staff and a shield or just a shield.

Soon, she had just about mastered all that Jaal could teacher and that nigh over dinner, he suggested that she get with Jorma and train to fight with him and his small army. He said they were very good and would give her more of a workout that she could get from his old bones. She thanked him for everything and promised that she would still come by for dinner and visits.

The next morning she showed up at the small training area that was set up for Jorma and his men. She watched for a while and when he took a break she asked if she could start training with his men. They all laughed when they heard this and Jorma said that she could get hurt training with them. She told him that she wasn’t worried about that but did agree not to hurt his men, too much. This made Jooma and some of his men laugh until they had tears in their eyes. He agreed that she could try training but after she got hurt she would have to leave. She agreed.

She looked at a few of the men and noticed that they had chosen their staffs so she dropped all her gear and grabbed her staff and stepped into the training ring. Jooma yelled at a few of them to go easy on her but to do a good job so she would know what real fighting was. She squared off with 2 good sized males and when they only stepped at her and barely swung their staffs she figured that she was going to have to play dirty.

She turned around and headed back toward her equipment and could hear Jorma yelling something about her having enough and leaving already, when she stopped turned around and started running at the 2 males. She dropped her staff and pole-vaulted into the air hit one of them square in the chest knocking him back about 10 feet across the training circle.

She then rolled to her right, jumped up and swung her staff as hard as she could across the back of the other males knees. This knocked his feet out from under him and he dropped like a bag of rocks to the ground. She jumped back turned around and the flipped forward away from the 2 downed males. She turned to Jorma and asked if he wanted to take his men home now.

Jorma looked very surprised and so did his men. He pointed at 3 of them and hollered something which caused them to grab their staffs and run after her. She waited until they were about half way across the training circle before she started running right at them. Just before they reached each other, she jumped onto a broken down wagon piece and leapt up and over all 3 males landing on her feet right behind them.

She held the staff in both hands dropped backwards and clubbed down on the middle males head knocking him out. She then dropped flat on her back shoved the staff further over her head and started rolling to her left taking out the legs of the male on the left. When he tripped and fell, she jumped up and clubbed him across the head. She turned and rolled forward away from him just as the 3rd male swung his staff and barely missed her but hit the male in the side of his head knocking him out completely.

She rolled to her feet, turned around and pole-vaulted again at the remaining male but this time she landed on his shoulders and swung the staff forward until it crashed hard into his crotch. He just made a wheezing sound and dropped to his knees holding his crotch. She jumped off his shoulders and pushed him on his face with her foot. She quickly looked around and noticed that none of the others were moving in her direction.

She then turned around to Jorma and said, “Gimba, I only want to train and learn to defend myself in case I am alone and attacked. I do not want to hurt or embarrass your men, please just let me train and I promise I will work hard.” She used the honoring term of Gimba which means older brother. 

He stood thinking about this until Krudg, one of the males she had just beaten came staggering up and said, “I think she is pretty safe from any attack already. I truly feel bad for whatever comes after her.”

This caused all the men to laugh and start hitting the ones that had just been beaten up. They all stood waiting for Jorma and he finally said, “I am not to big to say I know all fighting. You will train with us and show us some of what you do. I think we would be better fighters if we could fight more like you just did.” Then he turned to his men and asked, I need you to say if any of you have trouble training with this female?”

No one said anything at first, then Krudg said, “I don’t but after I learn some of those moves I want a rematch.” Which started them laughing all over again. They spent another hour working on basic standing positions and hand holds of different weapons. They were very surprised at how much she did not already know but they did notice that it didn’t take her very long to master each of the moves and skills they showed her.

By the time she has spent her 2nd winter in the Troll village she felt safe and happy. At the end of the winter, Wren had died of some terrible cough. She felt terrible and knew it was going to be hard on Jaal because he had always had his mother in his life and now that he was almost 45 years old he was going to have to live on without her.

As is a custom among the Trolls, a younger female is sent to live with the male of a lost loved one to help him get back into life and not hide away until he dies. The female that moved into his home was named Hegra, and she had volunteered on her own. She knew who Jaal was and had always liked him. She was around 30 something but had lived with her father and 2 much younger sisters. Her mother had died giving birth to her and her father had married another woman who had to raise her. The woman had never treated her bad but there was no caring between them.

Talon had been training when one of the males that had the roving guard duty this week came hurrying into the training area yelling for Jorma. He told them that he and a few other guards had spotted and large group of humans riding along the south side of the mountains. They were looking for something and he wanted to make sure Jorma know about them. He had left several other guards to watch and keep track on the riders while he was gone.

The entire army was called out and they set up check points and tracked the humans all over the mountains. They had moved boulders and rocks into old trails to turn the riders away. After almost 3 months the humans had given up trying to find a route up into the mountains without a lot of work and manpower. They turned south and left the mountains.

A few months later, 2 men came into the mountains on foot and made their way up to the bridge. When they crossed, the trolls did the same thing to them that they did to her and took them as prisoners. They turned out to be a man and is servant that had decided to travel the Ridgeline Mountains and head north into the Waste Lands. The servant was a 15 year old half-Blackblood boy. His ears had been cut off close to the sides of his head and he looked like he had been beaten a lot. He was also sickly due to the lack of good food.

Talon told Jorma about the boy and that the man had somehow found him when he was very young. He had kept him hidden and his slave all this time. She told him about the beatings and that he was sick. Jorma and Krudg went to talk to the man but he was scared and thought they were going to kill him so he pulled out a small hidden gun and shot Krudg in the face. It hit him in his left eye and tore out some bone but he didn’t die.

Jorma took him before the Bispen and the entire village showed up for the trail of this human for trying to kill one of their own. Jooma and Talon were there to translate everything to the man but he only screamed about them being animals and demons and how God was going to punish the all. In the end he managed to escape from the 2 guards that were walking him back to his holding cell and he jumped over the small wall which dropped almost 200 feet to a rocky ledge.

The young boy was given medicine and good food and soon he was strong enough to get out of bed. He stayed in Talons home and they talked a lot about where he come from and who his people were. He didn’t know anything because his mother had died about the time he was born and he only remembered living with the man. He told her some things that he did to him and it made her want to go beat his dead body with a shovel.

He said his name was Hey because that was all the man had called him. She told him that Hey was not a name and he needed to pick a name for himself. He didn’t know any names and asked her if she knew of one he could use. After a little thinking she named him Erik, she said it meant bright and strong. He laughed at that because he was neither very bright or very strong.

Everything got back to somewhat normal and Jorma’s army was getting really good at their fighting style. Jooma told Talon that she was going to take a mate and wanted her to be with her for the first part of the ceremony. She asked why only the first part and Jooma giggled as she told her that the second part was that night when they were alone. Talon was so embarrassed she couldn’t talk.

About 3 weeks later, the whole village was covered with flower ropes and lit torches just at sunset. Jooma was there in a beautiful wrap that Talon had helped her get on and when she saw Krudg all clean with flowers around his neck she started laughing. He smiled at her and then stood next to Jooma while Bispen spoke. He said things about helping each other and having children and food ready and how they had to work together to make things work.

After he spoke, the two promised each other that they would work together and work hard. They then hugged and then they stepped over to a large table with food and everyone started singing and eating and having a good time. Later, the couple disappeared while the villagers kept laughing, singing, eating and drinking until almost sun up. The whole village went to sleep and no body had to work the next day. No one saw either of the married couple for almost a week and when Talon saw Jooma, she claimed that she looked like someone had dragged her down the side of the mountain. All Jooma said was, “Yeah, but it was good.”

After the ceremony, everything returned to normal. Talon returned to her black smith job and training with Jorma almost every day. Erik was not very good in the smith shops and had very little talent for fighting but he did enjoy teaching the younger village children. He helped Jooma with Human speak and he was great telling stories and drawing pictures. He would tell the children all kinds of stories and they loved it and he quickly became a favorite among all the children.

For the next season, everything was going well and Talon and Erik grew closer. She had grown up as one of the only humans among several other races but now with Erik around she had urges and needs that she didn’t understand but knew how to satisfy. She and Erik spent a lot of time experimenting and exploring each other. Talon felt good about this but noticed that Erik was feeling much more. He had fallen for her and made it clear to everyone that she was his.

During this time, Talon noticed that Jooma had been putting on weight. She was almost twice her normal size across her chest, abdomen and butt. She was a little worried so she asked her if she was feeling aright and Jooma told her that she was carrying 2 good eggs and would be birthing in about 4 months. This was good news and Talon was so excited for her friend. She told Talon that she would need her help in a couple months and they would get everything ready for the babies then.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been over a year since the humans had ridden along the mountains looking for a route in or through. One of the roving guards had spotted a large group of humans on horses heading toward the mountains. Jorma alerted all of his men and they scattered through the mountains with orders that they were only to watch and report back what they saw. They quickly took up their positions and watched everything the humans did.

After watching and reporting for almost 3 weeks, one of the soldiers noticed some movement along a distant outcropping of rocks. He and his partner slowly crept up to the rocks and snuck a peek over them and saw two large trolls laying against the rocks sleeping. The humans quietly took out the bows and shot several arrows into the 2 trolls, killing them before they could get up and fight back.

This changed everything for the village. The soldiers now knew they were there and they would not stop until they had found the village and then they would probably kill everyone. Jorma explained that they would have to leave here before the soldiers could get here. He told them about a huge tunnel system that they had been working on for the last 20 years that would protect them almost all the way to the north west end of the Ridgeline.

He told everyone to start packing everything they wanted to take. He said there were many trees that had been cut down so they could build wagons to haul their stuff with. The wood cutters and some black smiths were already building wagon but would need help to build enough but they should have enough time before the humans arrived.

Jorma then gathered a group of men and Talon to escort the Bispen across the mountains to the Ogre village that was on the other side of the mountain. They would go there and then stay there waiting for the rest of the village to head that way. They would meet up and then continue traveling far north into the Waste Lands to another mountain range that he know of and they would be safe there.

Talon told Erik, “You need to stay with Jooma and help her because she is pregnant. Also from what I know about Ogres they like to eat humans and I don’t want to have to keep watch for the Bispen and you and me, that is just too much. Please understand, I need you here with Jooma.”

Erik smiled and said, “I know you are worried about me and Jooma both. I will be here to help her and we will see you soon enough.” They kissed and she picked up her pack and headed to catch up with the Bispen’s group.

On her way out of town, she passed by Jaal’s home and he and his house mate were standing by the roadway. When he saw her he quickly ran to her and pulled her aside. He told her that he and Hegra and become close and now she was carrying a single healthy egg. She was very happy for them and asked when they expected the child and he said in about 3 months. He wanted her to be looking for them when they caught up with her group because he was scared that something would happen to Hegra or the baby. She agreed to watch for them and ran to catch up with her group.

They walked through the mountains for almost 3 weeks before one of the scouts reported that he had seen signs that they would be in the Ogres land by tomorrow night. They set up camp and the Bispen asked 2 of the larger older soldiers to head out at first light and arrive at the Ogre village a day before the rest of them did. He told them that he didn’t want the Ogres to think this was a raiding party. He had written a message for their Clan Chief in their language. He told them to be very careful not to fight with the ogres, no matter what.

At first light, the 2 headed down the trail while the rest finished striking camp and getting ready to leave. The group had walked for almost 6 hours when they found Slagr walking toward them. He told the Bispen that the Ogre Chief received his message and was inviting them to his village. He only asked that all swords be put away and hanging when they arrive. Bispen agreed and then headed toward the Orge’s village.

They arrived shortly before sunset and where let in the gates. The Ogres had built up their village a lot since the last time the Bispen had been here, almost 20 years before. He could see that they had set up several black smith shops and a wood cutter shop, much like his own. He also noticed that they had a large food market set up off to the side of the center square and he could see several unusual fruits and vegetables.

He stepped over to the stand and picked up an orange and smelled it and asked the vendor what it was (in Ogre). The man said it was one of the juice fruits and had a very sweet taste. The Bispen bit the fruit in half and juice ran all down his chin and face. His eyes grew huge and he snapped and chewed until the whole fruit was gone. The vendor offered him a rag and the Bispen wiped his mouth and lower face and neck. As he handed the rag back he said, “Oh my, that was so sweet. It is wonderful, thank you.”

The Bispen headed toward the large white slate building and was met about halfway up the steps by the Ogre Chief. They greeted each other and then went to sit under a large tree where food and ale had been set up. They talked and shared info back and forth until the Bispen told the Chief about the humans and his problem. The Chief quickly offered to send a small army unit back with his to his village so they could fight the humans.

The Bispen thought about it then said, “I think that will only get our people killed and not really help us at all. There are far too many humans and if we fight with them they will only bring more men and then they will simply kill everyone they see.” He adjusted himself as he sat there and after rubbing his face he said, “My friend, I am afraid that it is time for us to move far to the north away from the humans. They don’t seem to like living in the colder areas and I know that your people, just like mine can live up there just fine.”

The chief dropped his shoulders and said, “I also am afraid that you are right. I have had many reports about the humans and where they are growing large villages. I too think the north is our best option. Have you already started your people packing for the move?”

The Bispen replied, “I had them start packing 1 full moon cycle now. They should be on the trail heading this way through the caves and tunnels. They should be near hear in 4 or 5 days. I hope to meet them and continue traveling at that time. We have a group that have been tracking the humans and when the get close to the bridge, we will set the far end on fire and then cut it so they can not cross. I hope that will give us enough time to get away.”

The chief nodded his head and said, “We have been starting a little slower than you but I think we will need to move faster now. I have reports of a large group of human soldiers camped near the half-ling village of Keldar. I do not know why they are there but it may be a problem.”

Bispen was surprised to hear this and said, “That can not be good. Thank you for that news. Out travels should keep us away from them but we will have to keep close watch.”

The chief then smiled and said, “I see you have a human female in with your warriors, what is she for? I only ask because she is far too small for pleasure.”

The Bispen laughed and said, “She is also far too dangerous for pleasure. She is a full-blooded Blackblood. She came to my village almost 4 seasons ago to find a safe place to live. She started training with my soldiers and soon was beating them something terrible. She then started teaching them how she fights and now they are very formidable with any weapon. Believe me she is not worth the trouble to bother with.”

The Chief laughed and said, “She is a warrior and fights you men, this I would love to see. Do you think she would do some training with some of my warriors? I would consider it a great honor.”

The Bispen smiled and said, “I do not know. I do not order her as she is a female but I will ask her and I am sure she will agree.” He then waved to Jorma and told him what he wanted. 

Jorma was a little shocked and asked him, “Are you sure you want her to fight them, she could hurt them badly and that would not be good for your visit.” The Bispen nodded and sent him after her.

He turned back to the chief and said, “I hope you know that I worry how your warriors will take being beaten by a human looking woman, I hope there will not be any problems.”

The chief said he understood his worry and said he would take care of it. He waved his commander over and told him want he was doing. The commander gave him a funny look and said that any respectable warrior would not fight a female human. The Chief told him to get 3 or 4 of his best swordsmen and tell them not to kill her but to put on a good show. The commander shrugged and went to his men.

After about 30 minutes, the main courtyard was encircled by a crowd and Talon was standing off to the side holding her staff. She didn’t have her sword because she didn’t want to really hurt anyone that bad. She was aware that the Ogres were going to try and hurt her because they disliked female warriors but she agreed anyway.

Shortly 3 very large Ogres came at her in the stander 1 in front with2 behind formation. She ran at the first one who had a puzzled look on his face as she jammed the staff into the ground in front of him and watch as she vaulted up into the air before landing on his shoulders and kicking him in the back of his head. She leapt high off his shoulders and well over the heads of the other 2. As she flew over them she twisted around so she would be facing them when she landed behind them.

Just before she touched the ground she held the staff at fully stretched out arm length and started spinning like a top. She struck the 2 across the back of their heads knocking them out and to the ground. She managed to land feet first and the jumped at the first Ogre as he was turning around to come at her. He hesitated when he saw the other two drop to the ground which was all she needed.

She ran at a squat straight at him and then dove for the ground just behind his feet. He was surprised as she went under him but the staff into his crotch was painful. He dropped to his knees as she rolled to her feet and swung the staff across the back of his head knocking him out. He simply dropped on his face with a grunt sound. The Troll soldiers were hooping and hollering as they watch her finish off the Ogres. 

The Ogre commander was not happy, matter of fact he was fuming at the embarrassment he felt watching this female beat his men. He jerked his sword and ran into the circle straight at her. She had her back to him and didn’t move until he was almost on top of her. She squatted and leapt backwards into a roll and swept the commander’s legs out from under his body and he crashed face first into the ground.

He coughed and spit and yelled and screamed. He grabbed his sword and jumped to his feet and ran full bore at her. She saw him out the corner of her eye and turned just as he got to her with his sword at the highest arch before she swung her staff and hit him across the throat just under his raised arms. He took 2 steps and then dropped to his knees choking and wheezing unable to breath. He dropped his sword and his arms collapsed making it impossible for him to grab at his throat or catch himself before he landed face first into the ground.

Just before he hit, he had closed his eye and was as ready as he could be to smash his face into the hard ground when he felt something small soft and strong grab his face and then his head landed on something a lot softer than the ground. Talon had seen he was going to hit face first and slid back in front of him catching his face and head in her arms and then got her lap under his head before it hit the ground. He landed in her lap with an “oof” sound. After a few seconds, she rolled him over and smiled at his face. At first he was furious but then realized that she was a true weapons master and that she had simply bested him, nothing more. He started laughing, as best he could while choking but was ok. 

They checked everyone and made sure no one was hurt bad and the commander waved everyone quiet and said, “If all human women fought like this one, then he would hang up his sword and clean the home.” Everyone busted up laughing and clapping each other on the back. They were closer now and the commander made a slow move to get Talon to the side and said in broken human, “You are danger with staff. What can you say to my men for fighting good?”

She understood pretty much what he was asking and said slowly, “You are strong but you move much slower than me. When you move slow I can see your move before you do it. A fast fighter will kill you with that.”

He looked at her and understood that she had just told him the truth and that he didn’t really want to hear it because he did not know how to fix it. He asked, “How you fix slow fight?”

She smiled and hollered for Jorma to join her. When he was there she asked if he spoke Ogre and he said he spoke a bit. She explained the questions and then told him he needed to offer to help the commander set up the same type of training as he had for his men. Jorma nodded and then stepped over to speak quietly to the commander. 

He explained what he had done, with Talons help and how he ran his training and exercise circles. He also told him that she was not a human woman but possibly the last Blackblood. The commander was very surprised and then said, “That is why she fights like a demon, she is very impressive. Have you fought her?”

Jorma tried to cover his smile and said, “I did the same you did and I didn’t last as long as you did. She is hard and quick. She has helped my men a lot and she could help you. If you want I can leave my best trainer here to help you get started with her type of training. It will be up to you if you continue after we show you but I would think about it.”

He smiled and said, “Thank you, I will. I can see that I would be a fool not to try to make it work.”

Jorma said, “I think the same. It was hard at first because it does not feel like it is the right thing but I made them keep doing it and now they are twice as good as before, maybe more.”

They joined the rest of the men and found that someone had brought out some food and drink and now it was a little party. The commander was watching Talon and how his men were close to her all the time. He saw someone put his hand where it shouldn’t have been and then he saw one of his men fly backwards from where he had been standing next to her. The man hit the ground and didn’t move. He noticed that the others just stepped back a little but he didn’t see anyone else touch her. Maybe he should get serious about this new training style.

They all laughed and drank until late then everyone went to sleep. Talon had crawled into a small tent with the troll with the one eye missing and no one thought anything about it. The commander was wondering and decided that she could pretty much do what she wanted as he went to his bed and to sleep.

Early the next morning the commander was shocked to see all of the trolls out in the courtyard jumping up and down, bending in several different directions and even a few wrestling. He walked around and watch as a couple of his men joined in and a few of the movements. He stood back away from the group and copied some of the stretching. He could feel muscles in his back pull hard and then relax and after several minutes of this stretching he felt a little stronger.

He quickly found Jorma and saw that he was covered in sweat as he was doing several different movements. He asked if he would explain what he was doing and he told him to just stay here and copy every movement that he did. He said he would explain after a little exercise. They stretched and lifted each other and then did a little light wrestling which lasted about 30 minutes. When Jorma stood up he faced the commander and could see he was covered in a heavy sweat also.

He waited while the commander slowed his breathing and wiped his face with a rag before he asked, “What were you asking before?”

The commander said, “Never mind, I have my answer. I just need to know what you call it and how do I do it all?”

Jorma smiled and said, “No problem, my trainer knows all the movements and he will teach you everything but it may be best to get someone to write it down for you so you don’t forget.”

The commander smiled back and said, “You do this every morning?”

Jorma nodded his head, “Yes I do. We all do.”

The commander, “I feel so tired, but I really didn’t see how this will help my fighting.”

Jorma laughed and said, “I thought the same. After a short while you will start to grow stronger doing these and then you will have more strength for fighting and lifting and even running or walking. It will grow more for you. Just keep doing this and you will be surprised.”

The commander said, “Ok, if you say so. Right now I just want to go lay down, what are you going to do?”

Jorma smiled and said, “We have some more work to do. we are going to carry some big rocks up a hill and then some good sized trees. Then I get to rest.”

The commander just laughed and shock his head as he headed back to his bed.

They settled into a routine along with the Ogres until a Troll messenger arrived with news that the village was about 2 days behind him. The Bispen called all the Trolls together and the Chief and commander listened as plans were made for the Trolls. The Bispen told them, “The humans had reached the crossing and their soldier had tried to cross but the Army had been able to burn the bridge before any crossed. The humans had set up a camp near the old crossing but had not tried to cross, yet.”

After the meeting, everyone was sent to break down their camp and get ready to move out within 2 hours. As they went to work Jorma and Talon joined the Bispen and the Chief. The Bispen said, “The humans have sent out scout units along the crossing to look for another way across but there is no other way across. They will need to build some type of bridge to get across.”

The Chief asked, “How long do you think they will take before they can cross?”

The Bispen said, “Unless they brought a huge supply of ropes or wood, they will not be able to cross. There are very few trees on that end of the mountains. They will have to leave the mountains and come back with many, many supplies and men to build any type of bridge. We should be long gone by then.”

They stayed in their meeting talking for another hour and then everyone formed up in march formation and made ready to leave. The Chief was there to wish them safe travels and assured the Bispen that if the humans started across the crossing he would send word and begin his people heading north as well. They all said their goodbyes and the Trolls headed out to meet up with their village.

They arrived at the north west end of the Ridgeline Mountains and camped for 2 days until the first of their villagers arrived. They set up a quick camp and waited until everyone had arrived. Once everyone was there, the Bispen gathered the village elders together and they talked about the last few weeks events and made sure everyone was up to speed on all the news that affected the village. According to the last report the Troll soldiers had was that the humans had sent about half their men back to get more men and supplies.

Jorma held his own meeting and reviewed all of the reports since he had left. He was brought up to speed on the humans actions and even received a projection report on what they were expected to do and that time line. He brought the new arrivals up to speed on all that had happened and on the latest reports from his forward scout that were heading north to a new possible home site. They had only seen a few Greyskins along the way but rich fertile farmland and plenty of game. They would report on several sites before one was picked but it looked good, for now.


	9. Chapter 9

They rested for 3 days and then started moving. Talon had found Jaal and Hegra and was told that she would be delivering her egg within the next 2 weeks, or so they thought. She was so excited about the baby. She also found Erik and Jooma. Jooma was about 45 days behind Herga but she was more than twice her size. Everyone started teasing Krudg about his wife having four eggs because she was so big. He was so proud of her he couldn’t stop grinning which along with his damaged face did not make a real pretty picture but he didn’t care. His mate was huge with children and he was happy.

As they moved along, every soldier and many of the younger males, and even some of the stronger females, were being used as scouts and couriers. Jorma figured that the females may not fight as well as Talon or his men but they could run and he would need his men if someone attacked. He had Talon run with them the first couple times to make sure they knew where to go and what to do but they needed very little guidance.

Erik and Talon would run as often as possible and enjoyed being alone together. He told her all about what to expect with the egg birthing and then when the baby actually arrived what had to be done. Sometimes they would take a short break to swim and make love but Talon was worried that something would happen if they took too much time to play. She also worried that Erik was getting way to attached and she took this alone time to explain to him how she felt and that they could continue as they were and maybe sometime down the road there might be more but she wasn’t ready for a full time mate or being someone’s property.

Erik had not taken it as well as she had hoped and for a couple days he was angry and moody but after a little time to think he apologized and said that he had never loved anyone so he was probably not doing it right but would work harder at being more her friend and less her mate. They talked and agreed that being good strong friends was most important and maybe some extra benefits of their being close friends sounded like a good thing, for them both.

12 days after leaving the camp at the end of the tunnels, Hegra went into labor to deliver her egg. She was a little small compared to most Troll females so her delivery was difficult. Jaal was standing outside the tent they had used to cover her and many of the village females were inside helping her along. Talon knew nothing about babies or eggs so she stayed out side with the men and held Jooma’s hand. She had gotten so big she had to stay in a wagon all the time, which caused Krudg to beam with pride.

After almost 4 hours, the old mid-wife came out and told Jaal that Hegra had dropped her egg and she was ok. She said she was asleep now and would need to rest a couple days as it was a hard delivery. He was excited and worried about Hegra and the baby. He went in after most of the females left and he saw the egg sitting off to the side of her bed wrapped in heavy blankets.

Just sat there smiling and staring not knowing what to do or if he should be doing something. After a little while he just leaned back and fell asleep. Talon covered him and left him with his family. She went out and found Jooma crying. She climbed up and sat next to her in the wagon, she held her hand and gently rubbed her stomach. After several minutes she looked at Talon and said, “I think I have changed my mind about delivering these eggs. I think it would be best if I just stopped now.”

Talon looked at her like she had no head and then started laughing. It was unstoppable and uncontrolled. She roared and held her belly which started hurting almost immediately which caused her to laugh even harder. Jooma looked at her for almost a minute before she too started laughing. Her stomach started hurting even more and then she lost control of her bladder and peed all over herself. Which cause Talon to laugh even harder. After several minutes of laughing, they finally slow to a painful giggle and then just pained smiles.

Talon asks, “Why would you say something like that?”

Jooma replied, “I just laid here and listened to her scream and suffer in extreme pain over delivering just 1 egg and I have 2. I don’t think I can survive that kind of pain?”

Talon smiled and said, “Well, you really should have thought about that back before you became pregnant. Now, you have no other choice but to go ahead and deliver. Besides, Hegra is almost half your size, she is small so you should be fine.”

Jooma covered her face with her hands and said, “I know, I know but I wasn’t thinking about getting pregnant when we were…ah, doing it.”

Talon smiled and said, “Well, maybe the next time you will think about it.”

Jooma almost jumped out of the wagon saying, “Next time? After this there won’t be no next time. If he wants more eggs, then he can have them because I am done.” This caused them to start laughing again but not near as hard. They settled into talking as it grew later in the day.

The next few weeks went by quickly, after taking a 4 day break for the delivery, the march started again and they continued for almost 3 weeks before Jorma called a stop. The Bispen and the other Elders needed to take a short trip to one of the new sites and would be gone for 2 days. This was great because Hegra had finally able to get out of her wagon and started walking again. She was feeling strong and ready to go.

Jooma was due any day now and was feeling terrible. Hegra came by and was teasing her about the pain and how it felt so goo to get back to her old self. Jooma called her a terrible mean woman and yelled terrible things at her but they both knew they were only playing and laughed about it until Hegra headed back to check on her egg.

Shortly after Hegra left, there was a scream and lots of yelling. Everyone came running to find out what was happening. It turned out that Hegras egg was breaking up and the baby was coming out. Jall sat there so excited and not knowing what to do. Hegra and a couple of the other females were picking at the egg, pulling off large chunks of the shell and the baby pushed up, or out and broke the shell all over. Finally, after almost 2 hours the baby pushed through the last of the internal membrane and outer shell.

It rolled around on the blanket and then sat up facing Hegra. It was not quite as ugly or misshaped as many of the trolls and it was slightly smaller than normal but he was alive and hungry. He turned to look around the room and when he looked at Jaal he smiled and then crawled to him. He tried grabbing Jaal but couldn’t. Jaal grabbed him up and hugged him tightly. The baby squealed and hugged back rubbing his face down into his father’s shoulder and then resting. Jaal just held him and smiled so big.

Hegra smiled big and said, “Well, he knows who his father is. So, Jaal, what are you going to name him. He went to you first so you have to name him.”

Jaal thought about it and said, “I name this child of mine, Yalmer. He is strong and loving and I am proud.”

Everyone cheered and then there was a very happy party feeling as someone brought out some ale and some found. Soon, everyone was singing and taking turns holding Yalmer. This was the old way that Trolls used to celebrate the birth of a child. They had many things happening in their lives but they always took the time to celebrate the birth of a child. It was an old but important custom for the Trolls and a good time for everyone.

The next morning just before the sun came up, there was a blood curdling scream coming from the center of the camp. It woke everyone and got everyone running toward the noise. They quickly found out it was Jooma screaming because she was woken up by her eggs moving around getting ready to be delivered. The mid-wives quickly got in place and started rubbing her stomach, wiping her forehead and face, and pulling or holding her legs, as needed.

Talon was right there with her getting a front row seat to the birth process and she was both fascinated and disgusted. It was a miracle of life but it was sheer terror to watch. She held Jooma’s hand and wiped her head and tried her best not to look or get in anybody’s way. The first egg came out after almost a hour and the second was about 10 minutes behind. For the most part, it was a lot less painful than most deliveries.

The eggs were large, not just compared to Hegra’s but compared to anyone’s. they were almost twice the size of normal egg to old mid-wife said. She had delivered a lot of eggs and these two were huge. Krudg heard them say that and he started yelling and shouting and being the big proud papa that he was. Jorma said it was from his side of the family and Krudg punched him in the mouth. Jorma roared with laughter as Krudg tried to fight but just couldn’t while he was laughing.

With the baby and egg birthing’s pretty much done, for now. They village was ready to head to their new home site. The Bispen returned and claimed that the valley was perfect for their needs. They started moving to their new homes happy to be finished with this part of their journey. They quickly started to spread out and set up what and where they wanted. The miners and stone cutters were already working on the face of several of the high cliffs building new homes.

Everyone set up their tents and wagons just outside the main city area so the workers and builders had enough room to get their work done. Several of the miner supervisors had already been on site for several weeks. They had dug a few test holes and found this site had the best material deposits of any of the sites. They already had several mine shafts marked out and ready when the diggers were finished with the house issues.

It took about 3 months to get most of the homes dug into the cliff and many of the stand alone homes had been finished and everyone was moving in and setting up their homes. Jooma had had her eggs start coming out almost 2 months after they arrived in their new home. She had a beautiful baby girl and boy. The boy crawled to his mother and the girl crawled to Talon. They named the babies Slagr (boy) and Tamden (girl). Talon had never experienced anything like this and inside she suddenly felt a heart-wrenching pain.

Family, memories and love had been stolen from her and now she was having to run to stay alive so that so day she can possibly find more of her own people and then be able to settle down and have what some people call a normal life. She slowly started feeling a small pain in her stomach but it throbbed and echoed the pain and anger she felt for what had been done to her. She left the party saying she wasn’t feeling well and walked off into the rocky hills to think.

She found a quiet secluded spot that overlooked a large spread out valley. She could see a few trees and a lot of empty land reaching all the way across the world touching the sky on the very far end of her vision. She started to cry at remembering her mother and how she had died in her arms. She remembered seeing her little brother, Eram, running across the back yard and how he fell face down into the thick grass with an arrow in his back. She cried and cried and slowly fell into a very deep sleep. 

Her mind was suddenly flooded with visions of everyone she had ever known getting killed. She could see them all and she could see the faces of the men that had killed them. At first all she could only see was the black hoods they wore but the more she remembered about that night the more she could see. She clearly saw the tall man with the long stringy black hair and the old fat balding man with the scar on his face. Each one suddenly became clear in her mind, their faces and the actions. Just as she was feeling overwhelmed by these memories she saw something else.

On the wrist of one of the murders she saw a tattoo. She tries harder to remember and sees it a little clearer, it appears to be a cross or something like a cross. She concentrates and the image in her mind becomes clearer, she suddenly sees it clearly. It is a double cross made out of Bones. Talon jerks awake and realizes that she now has something to go by. She can now seek out the man that killed her mother and destroyed her whole village. She first needs to find the man with the tattoo and get him to tell her who the others are and where to find them.

Talon stands up on the edge of the high cliff, withdraws her mother’s knife, holding the blade in her right hand and shouts at the setting sun, “I vow, this day, that I will avenge my people and find justice for their murders of family.” She quickly pulls the blade from her tightly gripping hand slicing her right palm, which she raises to the fleeing sun letting the blood flow from her hand to drip onto the ground, thus sealing her vow with her blood.

Talon returns to the village and find Erik and tells him that she has had a vision of the men that murdered her family and she was going to go looking for them. He doesn’t understand why she has to go looking for these men. He is worried that she will get killed. They talk until early the next morning but she will not be swayed. In the end talon tells him, “Almost 13 years ago, when I was 9 years old, I watched when they attacked my village and killed every person there. They murdered every man, woman, child, the elderly and even the babies. They murdered my mother as she held me. I then watched them shoot down my baby brother with a crossbow. I ran and hid because I was too young and too scared to do anything about them but I am no longer scared and I can now do something about them and I will.”

She turned to packing her pack as Erik stood there watching her and thinking about everything she had said. He stood and asked, “What about me? I hope you are not expecting me to stay here and wait for you because I won’t. I am going with you and I will do whatever it takes to help you.”

She smiled and said, “I would never ask you to go with me on this journey but if you decide that you want to go, I will welcome the company.” They pack up all the gear that they can carry and with a few goodbyes, they head out to find a few bad men.

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13 years after her family and home village were destroyed, Talon vowed to get vengeance and decided to track down the murders of her family. In her search, she learned that one of the men she was searching for had possibly traveled to a lawless fortress on the far edge of the realm of the civilized world, called the Gallwood Military Outpost. Since she had no other clues to his or the other men’s whereabouts she decided to travel to this outpost and see if she can find him and get more information about the rest. 

On her journey to this outpost, Talon discovered that she possessed a mysterious supernatural power that would allow her to summon powerful demons, called the Lu-Quiri, from another world, called the Plane of Ash. She learned that they will fight to protect her but she had to learn how to handle the control over these demons in order to save herself and defend the world against a fanatical religious dictatorship known as the Prime Order.


End file.
